HOUSTON — A man who shot and killed another man four years ago entered a guilty plea in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence.
Dashadd Edward McNeil, now 30, shot and killed Juston Allen Walker, 25, at the Coventry Square Apartments on Oct. 5, 2019.
Walker and another person were hanging out in the parking lot around 4 a.m. when McNeil, who was 26 at the time, saw them.
McNeil recognized Walker from the neighborhood and approached them. As Walker and the other man walked away from the parking lot toward the complex, McNeil approached them from behind and shot Walker in the back several times.
"This was a senseless shooting," Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Marshall said. "Our victim had such a beautiful life, and this defendant took it from him."
Walker died at a nearby hospital.
McNeil was initially identified as a person of interest in the shooting but witnesses and surveillance video proved that he was the one who pulled the trigger.
"Gun violence in Houston has reached epidemic levels, and it is because people think it is okay to start shooting when they have a minor disagreement," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. "We were able to get justice for the family of this promising young man, but there was absolutely no reason he had to lose his life to gun violence."
McNeil entered the guilty plea on the day before his trial was scheduled to begin.
Some of Walker's family members gave victim impact statements. They said Walker was a jokester with a good sense of humor.
"He was a real character and a very forgiving person. He always had jokes," Marshall said.
