A funeral service was held Tuesday for 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, who was fatally shot Dec. 30 while riding in a car with her family in East Harris County.
LaPorsha Washington, Jazmine's mother, was driving Jazmine and her three sisters at around 6:50 a.m. Dec. 30 when they were fired upon by someone in a red truck.
Washington expressed appreciation for the several hundred people who gathered for the service at the Community of Faith Church in North Houston.
“I didn’t think it was going to be this big, but it is big," she said. "It is a celebration and I just want to thank everybody.”
Mayor Sylvester Turner, who was invited to speak along with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, took the opportunity to proclaim Jazmine Barnes Day in Houston.
"Because of her life, I just want to believe that all of us will be better," he said, "that all of us will work harder, all of us will strive to make this world a safer place for our children.”
The Harris County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday that a second person had been charged with capital murder in the case. Larry D. Woodruffe, 24, was identified along with Eric Black Jr., 20, as suspects based on a tip, authorities said. Black was charged Sunday.
