HOUSTON – Investigators found the vehicle believed to have been driven by the people who killed a 4-year-old girl and wounded her mother and sister during a robbery, officials said.
Harris County sheriff's deputies, along with Precinct 4 deputy constables, located a black Honda Accord on Cypress Island Drive in northeast Harris County.
Investigators believe the car was stolen and used during the deadly robbery.
"I felt a small bit of relief," said Julie Gomez, Ava's aunt, in response to the car being found.
"We're just hoping there's something in [the car] that will help find [the gunmen]," Gomez continued.
Harris County investigators said Diana Gomez, 27, was unloading groceries Monday night outside her Greens Crossing Boulevard apartment when three men got out of a car and tried to steal her purse. They said that when Gomez wouldn’t give up her purse, one of the men started shooting. Gomez and her daughters, 4-year-old Ava Castillo and 10-year-old Betsida Castillo, were hit.
Ava died at the hospital.
PHOTOS: Diana Gomez, Ava Castillo, Betsida Castillo
Deputies said Thursday they were looking for a car taken during a carjacking the night of the shooting. It was described as a black Honda Accord bearing Texas license plate no. GBV-0987.
The owner of the car said he was carjacked at a Spring apartment complex hours before the shooting. He does not want his name released.
"All I saw was the gun, and that's what I focused on and giving them what they wanted," he said.
He said his 3-year-old daughter was in the backseat at the time.
"This little girl that was killed is not much older than mine. My heart goes out to that family," he said. "That could have been us, you know?"
Police are stressing that the man and his family are innocent victims in the situation.
Since releasing a picture of the vehicle and license plate number, the family has received threats.
"People are posting about how I'm somehow involved, or that I gave them the car to borrow. That is not true. I had no connection to these people at all," he said. "The families deserve justice-- everybody deserves justice."
Investigators said that a person of interest in connection with the shooting that was taken into custody Tuesday morning was no longer believed to be connected to the case.
The car was found Saturday morning in north Harris County abandoned on Cypress Island Drive, deputies said.
Precinct 4 constable deputies are handling the further investigation of the car.
Anyone with information about the case or the vehicle being sought was asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.