Harris County District Attorney's office dropped all charges against Willie John Peters Young after investigators determined he was a party attendee and not one of the shooters as previously believed.
By H. Nelson Goodson
November 12, 2013
Cypress, Texas - On Tuesday, the Harris County District Attorney's office decided to drop all charges against Willie John Peters Young, 21, after homicide investigators determined he was not a shooter at the Mariah Boulden, 18, birthday house party in Cypress. Some party participants had alleged that Young was an active participant, but other partygoers contradicted those allegations and authorities decided to release Young and drop any charges pending. Young was facing one felony count for deadly conduct in connection with two deaths and 18 people wounded during a house party shooting melee. Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson would not comment on Young's release, but that testimony from party participants indicated that Young was not involved in the shooting melee. Investigators are now looking for two additional alleged suspects involved in the deadly indoor house party that claimed two lives. They have not identified those suspects. One suspect has been charged in connection with the shooting that left 18 teens injured with gunshot wounds and another teen with a broken leg.
On Monday, Randy Stewart, 18, was arrested and processed by the Harris County Sheriff's Office and charged with felony deadly aggravated assault in connection with a double homicide and 18 victims being injured by gunfire. Stewart's bail was set at $250,000 and remains in custody. Multiple attempted homicide charges and possible capital murder charges are pending against Stewart. He could face life in prison without parole or the death penalty, if convicted on all charges.
On Saturday, Harris County Sheriff's deputies responded to a mass shooting at a Houston suburb residence at 7318 Enhanted Creek Drive at 10:45 p.m. where a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram advertised house birthay party for Mariah Boulden, 18, was being held. When deputies arrived at the residence they found multiple teens wounded and called ambulances. The wounded teens were taken to five Houston area hospitals. One of the victims, Queric Richardson, 17, of Katy died at the scene. He was fatally shot multiple times by the suspects. His 16-year-old brother, Kenneth Guidry was also wounded as he tried to save Queric. Guidry didn't know until ten minutes later that he had been also shot, according to his father Lawrence Guidry, reported KTRK TV News 13. The second victim, Ariel Shepherd, aka, Arielle Oliviaa, 17, later died at a nearby hospital. Both deceased victims attended Morton Ranch High School.
Eighteen other victims suffered gunshot wounds from minor to critical, and one other teenager suffered a broken leg in the melee.
The injured victims are expected to survive, according to Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.
Witnesses at the party told investigators that Stewart and two other suspects refused to get searched for weapons before going into the party. They left and decided to crash the party after they jumped a neighbors fence and entered through the back door. Once inside, someone fired a gunshot inside in celebration of Boulden's birthday. Then Stewart and another suspect reacted and took out their handguns and began to target and shoot at the teenagers inside the party. Stewart apparently got on top of a chair and targeted teens as they fled in panic and shot at them.
Richardson was hit and ran outside, one of the suspects chased him and shot him again. Richardson died at the scene. Shepherd was shot inside and was later taken to a nearby hospital where she died.
The party was attended by known gang members and many of the teens at the party knew Stewart and the two other suspects, which made it easy for authorities to arrest Stewart on Monday. The two other suspects remain at large.
A $5,000 dollar reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects sought for Boulden's birthday deadly shooting melee.
Stewart has multiple incidents with local authorities and had been charged for other unrelated criminal activity.
