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When will we learn? Three young people have been arrested and charged with capital murder and another one was fatally shot by law enforcement, all connected to the death of a man who was shot and killed in southeast Houston on May 18.

According to Houston police, patrol officers responded to a shooting call around 4:25 a.m. in an apartment complex parking lot at 5901 Selinsky Road.

Upon arrival, they found Otis Parker Jr. unresponsive in the driver’s seat of a vehicle, which appeared to have been involved in a crash.  An uninjured female passenger was also in the vehicle.  Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced Parker, 35, dead at the scene.  He had suffered at least one gunshot wound.

Preliminary reports indicate robbery as a possible motive.

Further investigation identified four suspects involved in the case.  They were charged on June 27 and warrants were issued for their arrests. Surveillance photos of the wanted suspects were released to the public.

Jarrell Tavon Wheeler, 21, was taken into custody on June 29. 

Quitiana Rene Taylor, 21, was arrested on July 3. 

Mariah Corinthian Green, 20, was arrested on Monday, July 10. 

Wheeler, Taylor and Green were each charged with capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The fourth capital murder suspect, Jamal Ray Brown, aka “Bam,” was fatally shot by Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Wednesday, July 12.

Members of the U.S. Marshal’s Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force (a multi-agency task force) were serving a felony capital murder arrest warrant on Brown at 706 North Ella Creek.  During the warrant service, task force members located and encountered Brown, 21, in the residence. 

Police said Brown produced a pistol and refused all verbal commands to surrender the pistol.  Two task force members (assigned to the HCSO) discharged weapons and fatally struck him.  It is unknown at this time if Brown discharged his weapon. 

Two dead, three facing significant prison time, all for something we are sure was senseless. Was it worth it? Do better, people.