The Harris County Sheriff’s Department formally charged gunman Larry D. Woodruffe, 24, with capital murder in the drive-by shooting that took the life of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes on Dec. 30.
Woodruffe, pictured right, was charged on Tuesday – the same day Jazmine’s funeral was held in Houston.
Eric Black Jr., 20, and Woodruffe were both taken into custody late Saturday. Black confessed immediately to “taking part” in the shooting. He was charged with capital murder but officials held off on charging Woodruffe until more evidence was gathered. Woodruffe was being held on unrelated drug charges.
Jazmine was riding in a car with her mother, LaPorsha Washington, and her three siblings when the SUV pulled alongside them and an occupant opened fire into the car. Jazmine was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say evidence shows the shooting was a case of “mistaken identity.”
The suspects told officials they believed Washington’s white Kia sedan belonged to people they fought with in a nightclub incident earlier that night.
Police believe Woodruffe was the trigger man and Black was the driver of a rented Kia SUV.
Washington’s daughter, Alxis Dilbert, 15, initially described the killer as a 40-year-old bearded white male wearing a red hoodie and driving a red pickup truck.
The false description delayed the investigation but no charges have been filed against the family.
Media interest in the story faded after the real suspects were announced.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted Tuesday that there are “too many gangs in Houston.” He said he planned to expand an anti-gang task force in the wake of Jazmine’s death.
I thought it was a white guy….
Why would the “eyewitness” description of the suspect be so off I wonder?
Supposedly there was a white man at the scene in the truck they described and it is assumed he was fleeing from the scene to get out of harm’s way. However, the way the story has been relayed it appeared that the crime was being pinned on him, so that is the part I don’t get.
Folks that went to the funeral down here in Houston yesterday had this baby’s open casket pic on Facebook. I thought that was disrespectful. But guess what? She did look like an angel tho. As far as these two are concerned, we need to just bypass the trial and do what’s necessary.
Heartless trash….
Just wondering how a car full of young children can be mistaken for rival gang members. Questions that need answering.
Open casket on social media…too soon. Maybe they wanted to send a message like Emmitt Till’s mother did. The crime is more than senseless.
Did they ever figure out if the mother was involved? I heard that she and the children that survived said it was a fat white man. I’m still trying to figure out how 2 black men get mistaken for a fat white man by everybody in the car. IJS. It’s suspect. Could the suspects be covering up for the mom even though they confessed?
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If it is them, and it sure seems like it can be, they were about to start a race war. Does anyone knows if the mom was at the club or some friends used her car to go to the club and had an altercation? I really don’t know much about this story other than it was supposedly a white man with blue eyes in a red truck.
I don’t know? Maybe they did want to send a message. one person post it, then everybody and their mom is sharing it. Crazy. Very senseless
I think we all are trying to figure out what happened. So many questions and the law enforcers better make it make sense.
That’s the one thing I loathe about social media is the posting of things by friends I just rather not see. I really hope my FBF do not post that picture. Bad enough I have to see abused animals pictures. Then again it led me to support the charity.
Idk ya’ll….this story breaks my heart. That poor baby! Are we really out here doing drive-by’s at 7am on a Sunday morning? Texas is NOT the state where you want to get a capital murder charge.
well…I’m glad that they found the men that are responsible for this….RIP to this angel….and I’m going to leave it at that. Not going to speculate into the whats and whys…bottom line is this innocent baby girl lost her life….and there is nothing that will bring her back…..such a sad reality. Prayers for her family.
The one on the left really is not ready for prison. The one on the right, prison life has called him long ago.
Damn…I was thinking the same thing about the one on the left. SMH
Still not buying it.
Hmmm..I need all the dots to connect. If the white man was DURING all those shots how did they see him. Did they see him draw the gun on them? He would have to steer the car with one hand and shoot with the other in case the gun would have been seen in his hands.
My cousin was killed similarly…mistaken for someone who had the same type vehicle. Shot him from behind. Cowards
Just senseless…
Alxis Dilbert, 15, initially described the killer as a 40-year-old
bearded white male wearing a red hoodie and driving a red pickup truck.
False description? WTF….MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!
RIP Angel????
Black males NEED schooling AND hobbies???
So sorry for your loss, Sis.
Shooting at someone because you THINK that’s their car is so damn Ignorant and Reckless. As if they are the only person driving that particular car.
I haven’t commented on this situation b/c it literally has left me speechless.
I’m not convinced they did in fact find the responsible ones….this story makes no sense. maybe I need to go to the real news
Sorry for your loss??
I think the cops are letting her grieve and bury her child before they go hard at her! This case may be on the first 48 later next year.
Maybe her Boyfriend, brother, uncle, some body black and male was driving her car in the altercation…so she told her 15 year old to lie about what they saw? My daughter is 15 she HIGHLY intelligent and ain’t bout to give no false description.
Authorities believe the white man described was a passerby and was fleeing from the shooting when it occurred.
Role models that’s in the communities versus entertainers, rappers and sports figures.
Cause Somebody LYING!
But it is ALL too common nowadays! Black males kill ANYONE for ANYTHING nowadays???
BOOM ?
Exactly! 98% of rappers aint about that life they rap about???
A dispute in the club leads to loss of life nowadays. Sad world we living in now.
Thank you ?
Still doesn’t make sense….
None of his is making sense to me.
RIP to this baby, is all i’ve got, still, smh
SAD
Something about this story is just not adding up. I think we’re going to see an unexpected twist to this story in the next few days or weeks.
yeah….that’s why I said I was not going to speculate…because I feel like there is more to it….yall know how I get when it comes to dem babies…..
That’s sad
Very…he was 26…
Dang…very very young. I’m so sorry to hear about this.
I don’t understand the shock of 2 20 something year old black boys shooting the wrong car as if we don’t hear about this everyday. Like I get it the description was wrong BUT can we please stop acting as if Black Boys shooting aimlessly with no disregard for human life is something new. I get it we don’t want this to be our truth but right now brothers and sisters this is our truth. Do we really need to link the stories of innocent blk babies killed by the stray bullets of black men?
I’m just confused on how it went from a white male to two black males ? .
Looks nothing like the sketch
I wish this comment could be publicized. I find that the typical person is focused on the wrong things, I swear. This makes perfect sense.
yes they need hobbies. As a mother with sons i keep mine busy, sons need more attention than the girls, girls need it too but not too many girls become gangbangers, very few do, they can become hoes though, so we need to watch out for that. When kids have time to idle, they link up with friends, friends get to chilling and then they get to concocting plans and that’s how all this crap starts. Parents need to let their kids see things outside of just being home. Sign them up for sports, activities, take them to drop in programs, keep them off the streets. Bring them to amusement parks, water parks, vacation, parents need to do better man.
Tianna Ricks
Talib Picante
Sandra Parks
……and this doesn’t even scratch the surface. I get it we are sick & tiered of it being US, in a way we wanted it to be the white man BUT the reality is “it be your own people” period point blank. As a black woman it doesn’t bring me joy to type this but I’m also not going to lie or overlook the obvious just because I don’t like the truth.
And a red truck to a kia suv? Having a beard to no beard.
Feeling the same…nothing makes sense.
Which part of them is white? Why would the mother make up a white attacker? Were they wearing masks? We better have the same energy we had when we thought timothy did it!
Soooo she was driving a Kia and so were they?? Too many confusing details have been shared.
Which one of these dumbo’s thought shooting into a vehicle was a good idea? Clearly both did. The goof troop leader & the lowly follower. B/c all involved have click-clack brains, a precious child is dead. Now both dumbo’s will be spending the rest of their lives behind bars. Lucky for them if they don’t get the death penalty. Texas will have you on death row, NP.
Not Timothy!
Agreed… Where there’s smoke there’s fire. It’s not a cut and dry case at this point
The club close at 3…. They rode around for hours lookin for a Kia… Ok SMH
Thank you
We were gonna burn everything until we found joshua so im confused
PERIOD! You’re absolutely right
I’m still befuddled but rest in peace to that beautiful baby may she recieve justice.
Condolences
In all the mayhem, it’s possible they saw a red truck passing by driven by a white driver and assumed he was the shooter. Just playing devil’s advocate here. RIP little girl.
“Media interest in the story faded after the real suspects were announced.”
Yes, black on black crime, they don’t care.
White on white crime, they don’t care.
Black on white crime, they don’t care.
They pretend to care when it’s a white on black crime because it gives them a racial division narrative.
You’re only fooling yourself if you think they care. This case got worldwide attention but the outrage left the front pages once two black men were arrested for committing the crime.
Thank you
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Twenty years old, facing capital murder charges. When violence and street life catches up with you SMH.
Bye b!tches.
Don’t let Bubba hit ya where the good Lord split ya!
Well at least it was not a white man its ok if we slaughter each other and blame Trump
I see you rode the short bus when you were in school.
Exactly as the old saying goes–an idle mind is the devil’s workshop and idle hands are the devil’s tools.
It doesn’t get more true than that!
I’ve had that feeling since I heard this story. I’m wondering if Washington or her teenage daughter is involved with these guys in some way? Hopefully I’m wrong and the story is just the way it’s being reported.
You’re welcome ?
I agree ,I dont care what color the killers are they are murderers! We have a very serious problem in this country when a child can be simply for riding in a vehicle with her family!
Thank you THANK YOU!!! It happened here a few weeks ago, 12yr old shot by 18 yr old and he said it was the wrong person. As for the description, the white man did drive by, and psychologists will tell you that 9 times out of 10 eyewitness give up wrong information.
I heard an activists say that it was good that the mother lied. Had she not, the real killers wouldn’t have been found. (silence) So it’s okay the next time a white woman does the same thing, We always make excuses for our mess.The druggie mother lied to protect her drug connects who happened to be the men who murdered her daughter. That’s sick!
THIS is why black people are so far behind the other people (fill in the blanks).
You missed the blue eyes.
WoW…I hadn’t even thought about that. If they had said 2 Black men, the k1llers would still be walking.
If they had they real daddy in they life I WILL NEVER POST AGAIN
Can’t keep up with this story. He needs to elaborate on “taking part”. If you gonna confess, CONFESS dammit! Don’t beat around the bush.
nah, it’s when a white man almost goes down for your fuckery!!
i don’t know that she lied so much as they got the car mixed up since the white man’s car was alongside them.
he drove the vehicle but he gon die or do life like the trigger man.
Say Ba-bye to life as you know it boys.
The Chair….fry they ass up
I’m confused as to HOW the mother and kids could say the shooter was a lone white male? Those dudes looking NOTHING like an older white man. So the question now becomes why is the mother clearly LYING?
He says he took part cuz he was the driver.