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Second suspect in killing of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes charged with capital murder

"I look forward to the day that I can truly say, 'Rest in peace, sweet Jazmine, for justice has been done,'" the Harris County sheriff said at her funeral Tuesday.

A second suspect has been charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, the Harris County Sheriff's Office in Texas said Tuesday.

Larry D. Woodruffe, 24, was arrested on Saturday and initially booked into the county jail on a felony drug possession charge. That same day, Eric Black Jr., the first man arrested in the case, was taken into custody based on a tip the sheriff's department had received.

Jazmine was shot and killed on Dec. 30 as she was riding in a car with her mother and sisters in the Houston area.

Image: Larry Woodruffe has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Jazmine Barnes.
Larry Woodruffe has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Jazmine Barnes.Harris County Sheriff

The sheriff's department said in a press release Tuesday that it was able to charge Woodruffe with capital murder "on the basis of additional corroborating evidence." The news came the same day the family of Jazmine held her funeral.

"I spoke recently about the arrest of one individual responsible for Jazmine's death. I said then that while we had made great progress we would stay the course and complete out investigation," sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at the funeral. "This is our promise to Jazmine. And I look forward to the day that I can truly say, 'Rest in peace, sweet Jazmine, for justice has been done.'"

Black, 20, who made a court appearance Monday, is also charged with capital murder.

Prosecutors said in court documents that Black admitted to driving a car in which Woodruffe, a passenger, allegedly opened fire from the front seat, striking the vehicle Jazmine was in.

Jazmine Barnes
Jazmine Barnes, 7, was fatally shot in a Walmart parking lot in Harris County, Texas, on Dec. 30, 2018.Family photo

Prosecutor Samantha Knecht told reporters Monday after Black's hearing that the car carrying Jazmine and her family was targeted "in retaliation for an altercation that had happened earlier in the night.”

Prosecutors said the family was not the intended target, and Black and Woodruffe did not know they had shot at Jazmine and her family until they saw the story on the news later in the day.

"I don't believe that Mr. Black knew the family. I believe this is a case of mistaken identity, and I think that Jazmine was an innocent bystander, unfortunately," Knecht said.

According to court documents, Black told authorities that the gun used in the shooting was at his home and gave investigators permission to search the property. Investigators located a 9 mm pistol consistent with shell casings found at the scene of the shooting, according to prosecutors.