'Now my baby has gotten justice': Grieving father reacts to arrests in Jazmine Barnes slaying

Christopher Cevilla, father of Jazmine Barnes, listens to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez giving updates on his daughter's homicide investigation during a press conference on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, in Houston. Eric Black Jr., 20, is charged with capital murder as one of the individuals who are responsible for the death of Jazmine, 7. less Christopher Cevilla, father of Jazmine Barnes, listens to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez giving updates on his daughter's homicide investigation during a press conference on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, in Houston. ... more Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff Photographer Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close 'Now my baby has gotten justice': Grieving father reacts to arrests in Jazmine Barnes slaying 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

Christopher Cevilla fought back tears Sunday as the news washed over him: An arrest had been made. A 20-year-old man was behind bars, and authorities were one step closer in the twisting path to bring his daughter’s killer to justice.

Eric Black Jr. allegedly confessed to his role as the getaway driver and has been charged with capital murder in the drive-by shooting of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, a crime that captivated the nation and drew tens of thousands of dollars in donations. He told police the shooting near the northeast Houston Walmart was a mistake, that the Barnes family was not the intended target. They soon learned they shot the wrong car on the news.

“Now my baby has gotten justice,” Cevilla said outside the Harris County Jail. “Now we can properly put her to rest without having to put her to rest and we’re still on a manhunt looking for a suspect.”

The grieving father was at ease and at times laughing with pastors in a Harris County Sheriff’s Office hallway before those emotions were reduced to tears after law enforcement detailed their steps in tracking down one of the men suspected in his daughter’s Dec. 30 death.

Sheriff Ed Gonzalez attributed the arrest to one tip in a sea of a 1,000-plus that followed a week of chasing down the wrong lead. Detectives spent six days working off an evolving description of a white man behind the wheel of a red pick-up truck as described by witnesses, even as the case threatened to inflame racial tensions with the looming specter of a hate crime.

Ultimately, a tip passed from civil-rights activist Shaun King to Gonzalez’s inbox during the middle of the week led investigators to Black’s Instagram account. The tip indicated that Black was driving the car with another man as a passenger.

The suspects did not resemble the sickly thin man with blue eyes and hints of stubble depicted in a sketch composite compiled with the help of Jazmine’s sister. Both of the suspects were black.

“It didn’t quite gel at the time,” Gonzalez said of the tip, adding that his investigators continued looking for the man in the sketch.

The investigation came to a head Saturday afternoon when authorities obtained new information to swoop in for the first arrest. Deputies pulled Black over in a rental vehicle at Woodforest and Beltway 8 for failing to use a turn signal.

It wasn’t until after investigators began grilling Black that he allegedly admitted to being involved in the shooting and revealed that the family was not the intended target. Police did not reveal the actual target.

Handcuffed and wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, Black sat quietly in court just before dawn Sunday when a hearing officer remanded him without bail for his first known arrest in Harris County.

During the court appearance, prosecutors partially identified Larry Woodruffe as the second suspect and the man who pulled the trigger during the drive-by assault. He has not been charged in connection with the shooting as of Sunday night.

“Our work is not finished,” Gonzalez said in a statement beforehand, “but I believe the people of Harris County can take comfort in knowing we have made great progress.”

Woodruffe, who has a lengthy rap sheet in Harris County, was allegedly a passenger in his car when he and Black spotted a vehicle they thought they recognized, prosecutors cited Black as telling authorities. He allegedly opened fire out the window as the pair drove by.

The two men returned the rental car and picked up a different one - a gray Kia that Black was driving when deputies arrested him Saturday. After his confession, Black identified the alleged shooter from a booking photo and told investigators that the murder weapon — a 9 mm pistol — was at his house.

Gonzalez declined to discuss Black and Woodruffe’s respective roles in the shooting during a press conference Sunday afternoon since charges have not yet been filed against the second suspect in the case.

Woodruffe appeared in court Sunday morning on drug charges and was ordered held on a $100,000 bond.

Neither the suspects nor the vehicle resembled those police had been searching for during the week.

The suspects were in a rental car, not the red four-door pickup truck initially described by police and as seen in surveillance footage near the Walmart before the shooting. Gonzalez said he believes the witnesses were sincere and if anything, the girls may have been describing the truck driver they saw at a traffic light.

“We do not believe in any way that the family, as we’ve said from the beginning, that they’ve been involved in anything nefarious,” Gonzalez said. “It’s just went down very quickly. The gunfire erupted. We’re talking about small children. They witnessed something very traumatic. It’s likely the last thing they did see was indeed that truck and the driver in that truck.”

The driver of the pickup truck was likely a witness in the shooting who authorities would still like to come forward to “shed light” on what happened.

Jazmine’s mother, LaPorsha Washington, declined to comment about the arrest when reached at her home Sunday morning while preparing a birthday party for another of her daughters.

She was still wearing a sling from where she was shot in the arm during last week’s pre-dawn shooting. Washington, 30, was taking her four daughters to the shopping area around 6:50 a.m. when a gunman opened fire and riddled her car with bullets.

She tried driving to a hospital but was forced to stop due to a shot-out tire. She called 911 when she realized her daughter, Jazmine, had a gunshot wound to the head and stopped breathing.

Lt. Christopher Sandoval recounted the hurt he and fellow first responders felt as her lifeless body was pulled from the car. He has spent most every waking moment since then working the case.

“When all this broke on the very first day, it became very apparent to us that this would be one of those cases that we would have to have all hands all deck,” Sandoval said.

He said six homicide investigators and more from other divisions were tasked with finding Jazmine’s killer. The investigation required the most man power and hours that he can recall in the two years serving as a commander on the homicide unit.

“This is the first time I’ve seen such an investigation of this scale where everyone is involved,” Sandoval said.

Because the victim was under 10, the state can ask for a charge of capital murder. Black can be held just as culpable as the actual gunman under a controversial Texas law that holds accomplices equally responsible for slayings.

Black is slated to return to court Monday before a judge in the 176th District Court.

During the week, Gonzalez was careful not to pin a motive to the case, even as activists and family members feared the shooting to be racially motivated. The sheriff dismissed the possibility of a hate crime during the press conference.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said at the press conference that she did not believe it irresponsible to suggest the child’s death may have been the result of a hate crime.

“Nothing is irresponsible when it comes to the lost of a precious 7-year-old. As many in the community did, they expressed that it seemed to have the criteria of that,” she said, applauding Houston’s patience in awaiting arrests.

King pushed a reward up to $100,000 for identification of the killer as the manhunt intensified. The money will be used to establish a foundation in Jazmine Barnes’ memory, family attorney Lee Merritt said. A funeral for Jazmine is scheduled for noon Tuesday at the Community of Faith Church.

Gonzalez said that he was not aware of anyone being eligible for a $5,000 reward established through Crime Stoppers of Houston.

Mayor Sylvester Turner thanked law enforcement for their work on the case.

“The authorities worked around the clock to find the individual who is allegedly responsible for the heinous and unspeakable act of violence against an innocent child,” Turner said in a statement early Sunday. “This should serve as a warning to all violent offenders who prey on our community: The color of your skin, how much money you make — these things don’t matter when law enforcement will find you, eventually.”

Maggie Gordon contributed to this report.