HOUSTON -- The man accused of killing one woman and robbing and shooting another woman in the Rice Village area has been charged with murder, News2Houston reported.

Video

Competency, Sanity Of Suspected Rice Village Shooter In Question

Maloney, 34, was charged with murder Thursday for the death of Houston Community College professor Helen Orman.

The professor and locally renown artist was killed March 20 at a Rice Village-area gas station, 2539 Bissonnet at Kirby, as she vacuumed her car. She was shot once in the head.

Maloney made his first court appearance Thursday at midnight for a probable cause hearing. He was charged with aggravated robbery in the robbery and shooting of Julie Graves on March 3 in a Rice Village parking garage.

Graves survived the shooting but was wounded in the chest.

The lawyer for Rice Village shooting suspect Beau John Maloney said his first mission is to pull his client's mental records.

Jules Laird, Maloney's court-appointed attorney, said his client was in good shape Thursday.

"He told me to do whatever I needed to do for him and that's what we are going to do," Laird said. "There is a question of his competency, and also possibly his sanity. We are going to get records from all of the prior places where he has been."

The suspect has a long history of mental illness, including treatments at state mental health facilities and being prescribed anti-psychotic drugs.

Maloney is being held in the Harris County Jail without bond.

A ballistics test performed Wednesday on the gun found in Maloney's vehicle matched the bullets fired at the two Rice Village-area crimes. Officials also said they located the Dodge Durango that was seen at both of the shooting scenes.

Graves and five other witnesses positively identified Maloney in a lineup Tuesday after the suspect was brought back to Houston from Kerrville.

"We did attempt to talk to the man. He was uncooperative, combative, and showed absolutely no remorse whatsoever for any of the things he's been involved in," said Edward Gonzalez, with the Houston Police Homicide Department. "Beau Maloney was without money -- he basically had 30 cents to his name and he had a pistol that was fully loaded, so needless to say, all the elements were in place for him to act out again. So, we're glad we've got this guy off the streets."

Investigators said they had enough evidence to charge Maloney with the Rice Village-area crimes after his arrest near Kerrville, but they wanted to wait until he was positively identified.

A Department of Public Safety trooper came across Maloney Monday around 1 a.m. as he slept in a car with stolen license plates at a rest stop near Kerrville on Interstate 10 at exit 514.

The trooper who arrested the suspect told investigators the license plate found on the rental vehicle he was in belonged to the Dodge Durango Houston police were looking for in connection with the shootings.

A loaded .38-caliber handgun, three gas cans, another license plate and a hose used to siphon gas out of other people's gas tanks were also found inside the car.

Authorities said Maloney also did not have any identification but they found out who he was by running his fingerprints through a database of convicted felons.

Houston police said Maloney has a lengthy criminal record. He is wanted for various crimes in other states -- Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina and California. The warrants range from traffic violations to assaults to felony possession of ammunition.

In Harris County, he has seven convictions -- from assaulting family members and police officers to unlawfully carrying a weapon. He also had an outstanding warrant for his arrest on a trespassing charge in Harris County.

Kerr County officials charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

An HPD homicide investigator said leads given out to the public over the weekend, including a vehicle and description of the gunman, helped lead to the arrest.

An alert shopper spotted Maloney in the parking lot and told police.

Video surveillance tapes recorded on March 23, released from a Houston-area Academy store, showed a man returning ammunition that was identical to what was used in the shootings.

The man did not have a receipt so he received a gift card for his return. He signed the receipt for the gift card as Dennis Bolds.

The tape also provided a license plate number and description of the man's vehicle as he left the store's parking lot.