9-year-old girl dies in Houston after being mistakenly shot while in family’s car

A 9-year-old girl died on Tuesday after a stray bullet struck her while she was sitting inside a truck in southeast Houston.

The girl, identified as Arlene Alvarez, was sitting in the backseat of her father’s truck wearing headphones on Monday evening when she was struck by the bullet. She was rushed to a local hospital where she died the following day. 

“When we were getting shot at the first time, and I told them ‘get down,’ she was the only one who didn’t get down. She didn’t hear me,” her father Armando Alvarez told reporters.

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Investigation revealed that a man, later identified as 41-year-old Tony Earls, who had been robbed at gunpoint at an ATM, opened fire in an attempt to stop his attacker but instead shot the girl.

He was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault, serious bodily injury, in the shooting, police announced. He was being held in the Harris County Jail on a $30,000 bond. Court records did not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

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The girl’s death was announced shortly after police said Earls had been charged.

Dane Schiller, a spokesman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, said prosecutors will look at possibly upgrading charges against Earls.

“Our hearts go out to the Alvarez family. We will find out what happened and seek justice on their behalf,” Schiller said.

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Several children have been shot this year in the Houston area.

Earlier this month, an 11-year-old boy was fatally shot as he walked from his apartment to his family’s car to get his coat. On New Year’s Day, the 4-year-old niece of George Floyd was wounded when someone fired into her Houston apartment as she slept.