Suspect in fatal shooting of teen was deported twice
By SUSAN CARROLL and MIKE GLENN
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Aug. 12, 2010, 6:23PM
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HPD
Melvin I. Alvarado, 22, was arrested in the Aug. 7 fatal shooting of 14-year-old Shatavia Anderson.
The suspect in the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old Houston girl was an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who previously was deported twice by immigration officials, authorities said.
Melvin Alvarado, 22, was convicted of two separate intoxicated driving offenses in Harris County in 2006 and 2007, criminal records show. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail in connection with the last arrest in November 2007.
Gregory Palmore, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said immigration officials removed Alvarado from the country in April 2008 and again in May 2009. Palmore said it was unclear from his records whether Alvarado was picked up directly from Harris County Jail after the last intoxicated driving conviction.
The second suspect in the fatal shooting of Shatavia Anderson on Saturday, Jonathan Lopez-Torres, 18, was a lawful permanent resident from Honduras, Palmore said. Harris County records show Lopez-Torres was arrested and accused of auto theft in February 2009. That charge was later dismissed.
The two suspects allegedly saw Anderson as merely a "target of opportunity" for an armed robbery, Houston police homicide detectives said Wednesday.
Alvarado and Lopez-Torres were charged Wednesday with capital murder in the slaying of Anderson, who was known as "Tae" to her friends and family. They were being held without bail at Harris County Jail.
Kisha Lambert, the girl's mother, was relieved when detectives called her Wednesday with the news of the arrests.
"I get to put my daughter to rest and let her know that her killers have been caught," Lambert said.
Anderson was shot in the back while she was walking home to her northside apartment in the 1100 block of Langwick. She was last seen alive around 12:30 a.m.
Alvarado fled after grabbing some of the girl's belongings, including jewelry, a cell phone and her purse, police said. The purse was found in the woods near the teen's body around 9 a.m., said Sgt. Billy Bush of the Houston police homicide division.
A witness saw the shooting and gave investigators sufficient details about the suspect for a composite sketch. The same witness later identified Alvarado as the killer, police said.
Lopez-Torres was the driver, police said. He dropped Alvarado off after the pair saw Anderson walking alone on the street, police said.
"It was very cruel," Lambert said of her daughter's slaying. "She didn't have nothing worth them taking her life over."
Lopez-Torres was taken into custody late Tuesday and brought to HPD headquarters for questioning. Alvarado surrendered later, police said.
"They pretty much gave up each other," said Chris Sturdivant, an HPD homicide detective.
Bush called the capture of the two suspects "the most fulfilling thing I've ever done."
"She was 14, plain and simple," he said. "It was tough, but we've got them in custody. They're off the street."
One thing's for sure: neither of those 2 shitbirds Joe Horn rehabilitated will ever harm a 14 year-old little girl. And one thing's a maybe: this asshole Alvorado is the spitting image of the little shitass who sideswiped my ride on the Gulf while he was doing some sign language kind of bullshit, apparently for my benefit, and kept going. Thank goodness I have excess coverage for uninsured motorists, specifically for the fucking illegal aliens.
