HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A man accused of shooting and killing 12-year-old Carlos Fernandez while he slept inside a Cloverleaf apartment has been identified.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the suspect, now identified as Terry Bryan Rivera, 27, has been charged with capital murder in connection with Fernandez's death and remains on the run.
The shooting happened Monday around 3 a.m. at an apartment on Alderson Street near Freeport Street.
Fernandez was sleeping in his bedroom with his two younger half-sisters, ages 6 and 7, when investigators said someone walked up to their bedroom window and fired shots.
Fernandez was killed. The boy's sisters were not hurt. Neither was his mom and another man who was also inside the apartment.
The sheriff said Rivera was previously dating Fernandez's mother and had two children with her.
Carlos's aunts said Rivera and the boy’s mother had a bad breakup.
“You destroyed us,” Grace Gonzalez, a relative, said. “There’s nothing you can do to bring that little boy back. There’s nothing you can say that’s gonna help us heal.”
The sheriff's office told KHOU 11 News they were investigating Rivera for a family-violence incident that occurred on March 1, a few days before Fernandez died.
No charges were filed because it was still an open case with the family violence department, according to the sheriff's office.
Investigators said they were able to recover the grey pickup truck believed to be used by Rivera when the shooting happened.
Rivera should be considered armed and dangerous, according to Gonzalez.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the sheriff's office homicide unit or Crime Stoppers.
'Fun-loving little boy with a big heart'
The capital murder charge comes as a memorial grows outside of Carlos’ bedroom window.
"He was a fun-loving little boy with a big heart,” said great-aunt Josephine Gonzales.
Carlos was proud of money he recently made while helping his uncle’s landscaping business.
A photo of him holding money was one of several new ones shared with KHOU 11 two days after sheriff office's investigators say Carlos was fatally shot while sleeping.
"He was just such an angel man, and no little kid deserves this,” his uncle Daniel Gonzales said.
However, the Harris County Sheriff's Office is not saying why it believes this was a targeted attack or revealing details about any possible relationship between the shooter and Carlos’s family.
"He loved to take care of his sisters and his mom," said relative Grace Gonzales. "And now we don’t have him anymore.”
Investigators believe the suspect may have been travelling in a pickup truck.
“I just hope they catch him and he gets life in prison," Josephine Gonzales said. "He doesn’t deserve to be on this Earth.”