Suspect in boy's stabbing has long history of brushes with law

Che Lajuan Calhoun has been arrested almost three dozen times. ﻿﻿ Che Lajuan Calhoun has been arrested almost three dozen times. ﻿﻿ Photo: HOGP Photo: HOGP Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close Suspect in boy's stabbing has long history of brushes with law 1 / 35 Back to Gallery

In the courtroom and on the streets, Che Lajuan Calhoun has shown he can juke the law.

The day before police believe he fatally stabbed 11-year-old Josué Flores with a knife as the boy walked home from school, Calhoun slipped away from tasers and police who tried to arrest him after an altercation on a light rail platform.

The latest charges add to a rap sheet that includes nearly three dozen arrests in Texas, Tennessee and Michigan over the past decade, for making terroristic threats, assault, drug possession, home invasion and destruction of police property.

Yet Calhoun appears to have avoided any heavy time behind bars.

THE IMPACT: Fear grips neighborhood after boy's fatal stabbing

In just the six cases he has previously faced in Harris County, Calhoun worked out plea deals, bartered for probation and was able to violate the court's terms and still remain with just days - not years - in the county jail.

His arrest this week in the death of the sixth grader - who stayed a little late for a Science Club party Tuesday and wanted to be a doctor - has left the northside neighborhood wondering how Calhoun built such a long criminal history so short on punishment.

Neighbors were already on edge over what they see as an increase in crime tied to drug usage, homelessness and other problems in the area, said Councilwoman Karla Cisneros.

"They are fearful," Cisneros said. "They are worried about what could happen and then we have this terrible thing. What could be worse?"

The Harris County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on Calhoun pending a court appearance on the murder charge.

Concerns about rail

A day before Josué was killed, Metropolitan Transit Authority police almost had Calhoun in custody.

"He was fighting with another person, and the officer encountered them and tried to break up the fight," Metro Police Chief Vera Bumpers said Thursday.

Calhoun, 31, became "combative," however, and the officer shot one taser dart into Calhoun's leg and another into his back, the chief said.

Calhoun jumped up and ran, but not before he'd dropped his identification, she said.

Metro and Houston police officers, as well as a canine unit, searched for him for about 90 minutes, but came up empty-handed.

The next day, just blocks away, he attacked Josué, police said.

"I have no way of knowing how he escalated or why," Bumpers said of the murder investigation, which is being handled by Houston police.

THE CRIME: Boy stabbed to death on north Houston street

Word that Calhoun had clashed with police so close to a Metro platform strengthened concerns among some residents that the rail's expansion to the area in December 2013 brought more crime to an already troubled neighborhood.

People with mental health and drug abuse problems have descended on the neighborhood because of the train access, they say.

"They are a bunch of vagabonds in the streets drinking and smoking - we are not safe," said Esmeralda Rivera, 50, who mourned the loss of the Marshall Middle School pupil.

"He was a baby," she said. "It hurts."

Didn't know Calhoun

Court records filed Thursday show that Calhoun lived just two blocks from the boy's house in the Northside Village area, and Josué may have walked near Calhoun's house on his way home from school.

Josué, one of seven children, left school about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday after staying about an hour late for an end-of-year Science Club celebration.

Witnesses say they saw a man approach the boy, then heard loud screaming. The two appeared to struggle and then Josué collapsed and fell to the ground. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital from multiple stab wounds.

The assailant fled the scene on foot, and one of the witnesses followed in his vehicle but eventually lost him.

The boy's mother and sister have said they don't know Calhoun and have never seen him before. It is unclear how long he'd lived in the area.

Calhoun's Facebook page doesn't offer obvious signs for concern.

In a recent post from last week, he talked about the importance of making the right decisions in life, and included a photo of what appears to be a prison inmate sitting in a cell surrounded by piles of packages of instant noodle soup that are often sold in prison commissaries.

"To all the young Cats out there doing all that shooting. This is your future. Bail Out," the post states.

"Children need love from both parents whether they are living together or in separate homes," according to another post.

Former Harris County prosecutor Colleen Barnett said the posts, taken alone, suggest he had a bad upbringing and was trying to get his life together.

That may have contributed to his ability to navigate the justice system through multiple jurisdictions, she said.

The challenge now is knowing why he would have committed such a brutal crime against someone he apparently didn't know.

"You just don't do that," she said. "This is just somebody who is extremely angry or has obvious mental health issues or a combination of both."

Stabbings uncommon

Mental health concerns were raised during Calhoun's most recent case in Harris County in October.

Calhoun was charged with making a terroristic threat, and court records indicate the judge appointed an attorney with experience at handling mental health issues. He also ordered mental health records be released from the county about Calhoun's mental competency.

Calhoun eventually reached a plea deal with prosecutors, however, even though records show he was wanted in his hometown of Detroit for violating probation in a 2009 cocaine possession case.

He pleaded no contest to the Harris County charge and was sentenced to 15 days in jail, with credit for three days he'd already served.

It was one of two charges he'd faced in Harris County for making a terroristic threat. He also had been charged four other times since 2012 - twice for assaulting a family member, once for violating a protective order and once for resisting arrest, records show.

He has been formally charged with murder in the death of Josué, and with evading arrest and causing bodily injury in the Metro platform altercation.

He remained behind bars Thursday under $5,000 bond.

Melissa Hamilton, a visiting professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said certain mental illnesses, as well as a prior history of violence, can help determine the threat level a person poses.

Stabbings by a stranger are relatively uncommon in the United States, she said.

"On the face of it, a 31-year-old who suddenly stabs an 11-year-old in broad daylight and they don't know each other? It is just odd - there is likely something else going on," she said.