HOUSTON – A young girl has died after she was shot by a man who had just been robbed at gunpoint.
Arlene Alvarez died Tuesday after the shooting Monday night in Houston, Texas, KHOU reported. “As a dad, she passed away in my arms. Something not really to brag or talk about, but I saw her come in and I saw her leave, I can tell you that,” Arlene’s father, Armando Alvarez, told KHOU.
Arlene Alvarez was sitting in the back seat of her father’s truck when the shooting started Monday, The Associated Press reported.
Police told KTRK a man and his wife were in the drive-thru lane of an ATM when another man walked up and robbed them at gunpoint. The male robbery victim then got out of his vehicle and shot at the robber running away, and then at a pickup truck he thought the robber was getting into, KTRK reported.
The Alvarez family, in no way connected to the robbery, was in the truck and driving to a restaurant when the shooting started, The Associated Press reported.
Armando Alvarez told KPRC Arlene was wearing headphones when the shots were fired and had no time to react. “I knew what had happened. I saw blood. I saw the bullet in the window already. I pulled over and I tried to turn around and by the time I turned around, he (the shooter) was gone. I was going to chase him, but my other baby son was still with us. My first instinct was to grab Arlene,” Alvarez told KPRC.
The Houston Police Department told KHOU the man accused of shooting Arlene Alvarez was charged with aggravated assault, but had not said whether the charges would be upgraded following her death. The shooter was identified as Tony Earls, 41.
Police told KPRC Earls did not know he had shot the child until he went home and called police to report the robbery.
Police are still searching for the robbery suspect, and have not determined whether that suspect was shot, the AP reported.
