Man suspected in shooting of Texas judge makes 1st court appearance in unrelated case

HOUSTON – The man suspected in the shooting of a state district judge in Austin Friday made his first court appearance in Houston Wednesday afternoon where he is charged with murder.

Chimene Onyeri, 28, was brought into the courtroom for a probable cause hearing just after 4 p.m. surrounded by bailiffs, after other prisoners had already been seated.

Onyeri is charged with the murder of 29-year-old Jacobi Alexander at an apartment complex in the 6700 block of Westbranch Falls on May 18.

Today the prosecutor suggested a possible motive for the shooting was a traffic accident near the apartment building earlier in the month that involved Alexander and Onyeri's father, Innocent Onyeri.

According to the prosecutor, there was an argument following the crash, and during the confrontation, she said Alexander punched the elder Onyeri in the face hard enough to send him to a hospital.

She said a tipster pointed investigators to his son.

"A tip came in from person who knows this defendant and says … he bragged about the shooting of Jacobi Alexander." she said.

Prosecutors allege Chimene Onyeri later went to the apartment building to confront Alexander with a pistol.

According to the prosecutor, the witness described how,
"...the complainant had crossed the courtyard and how the defendant had approached him and shot him at least four times in the abdomen, and then stood over him shooting him at least four more times in the head at close range.

The judge ordered Onyeri held without bond.

There was no mention during the hearing of the recent shooting and wounding of state District Judge Julie Kocurek outside her home in Austin Friday. Austin police say Onyeri is a "person of interest" in the shooting that left Judge Kocurek wounded. Onyeri is serving a three-year probated sentence handed down in her court, but police there say his probation was revoked in August.
Sources close to the investigation tell Channel 2 News that shell casings collected at both shooting scenes appear to be from the same gun.