A 9-year-old Texas girl has died after being accidentally shot by a robbery victim who opened fire on his attacker at an ATM, police said.
The girl, Arlene Alvarez, was shot in the head late Monday when Tony Earls, 41, opened fire on a suspect who robbed him and his wife at gunpoint at a bank’s ATM drive-thru, Houston police said.
“Earls first shot at the robbery suspect, who was fleeing on foot, and then at a pickup truck he thought the robbery suspect had gotten into,” police said in a statement.
But a family of five was inside the truck, where Arlene was sitting in the backseat. The young girl, who had been put on life support following the shooting, died from her injuries Tuesday.
“Crazy how life can change in a blink of an eye … no matter how ready we think we are. We never are,” Arlene’s father, Armando Alvarez, wrote on Facebook. “I ended up working late today and could have taken the day off to spend the day with you. My baby is gone.”
Alvarez noted in a subsequent post that Earls, who has been charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, was being held on bond after the shooting. He remained in custody Wednesday on $100,000 bond, online records show. It’s unclear if Earls has hired an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
“My daughter gone and the guy gets bond,” Alvarez wrote alongside a photo of Arlene in a hospital bed.
A vigil will be held Wednesday at the Chase bank where the tragic shooting occurred, Alvarez said.
The heartbroken father told reporters outside a hospital that Arlene was wearing headphones when the shots rang out and didn’t hear him telling his family to get down.
“I knew what had happened,” Alvarez said. “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, 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.”
Arlene’s mother, Gwen Alvarez, said she was “lost” without her daughter while lamenting not screaming louder inside the truck to get her to duck down.
The girl’s death was announced by Houston police Tuesday shortly after Earls was charged. A spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors will consider possibly upgrading the charge he faces.
“Our hearts go out to the Alvarez family,” spokeman Dan Schiller told the Associated Press. “We are going to review all the evidence, apply the law and determine what charges are appropriate.”
Police said Earls did not know he shot the girl until he went home to report the robbery.
Houston police were still searching for the robbery suspect early Wednesday.
The fatal shooting came just six days after another 9-year old girl, Ashanti Grant, was shot in a suspected road- rage attack. City officials announced a $30,000 reward Monday for information leading to an arrest in the case as Ashanti remains fighting for her life in critical condition.
