HOUSTON – A mother and father of a 16-year-old boy who was shot to death spoke out after the accused gunman was arrested.
Neal Smith cried out in pain and anger over the murder of his stepson, 16-year-old Cary Griffith.
“These kids out here man, with these guns man. They don’t know what they’re doing,” Neal Smith said.
Last Sunday, Griffith was walking in the Pine Trails Subdivision on Lorne Drive with two friends when 20-year-old Tyrin Robertson suddenly drove up inside a Dodge Avenger. Investigators said Robertson exchanged a few words with the boys and then opened fire.
Two of the boys walking with Griffith fired back. Moments later, Griffith was shot in the back, officials said.
“He started shooting at them and they were defending themselves. He just started shooting at them for no reason at all like, 'I’m going to be hard. I’m going to kill you,’” said Griffith’s mother, Alicia Smith.
Smith praised Harris County homicide detectives for arresting the man she believes killed her son.
Robertson is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and is being held without bail.
If ballistic reports come back positive on the bullet that killed Griffith, investigators said charges against Robertson will be upgraded to murder.
In the meantime, Griffith’s entire family is suffering unimaginable pain.
“When you murder one person, man, you actually murder a whole community,” Neal Smith said.
Neal Smith said his wife, their daughters, cousins and friends are victims, too, because they all lost someone special that was part of their daily lives.
Neal Smith said he wants just one punishment for the man who killed Griffith: life in prison and the never ending torment of remembering who he killed.
“I want him to remember just two words: Cary Griffiths. That’s all I want him to see every day for the rest of his life Cary Griffith,” Neal Smith said.