Judge weighs whether to charge girl as adult in 2018 slaying of Lamar High School student

HOUSTON – A judge will decide whether a teenage girl will be tried as an adult in connection with the slaying of Lamar High School student DeLindsey Mack, according to investigators.

According to investigators, Mack left the school at lunchtime on Nov. 13, 2018, and walked to a nearby apartment complex with two female classmates. The teenage girl now charged in his death told Mack and the other girl that she had to leave, investigators said.

Investigators said Mack and the other girl were shot when two men drove up and opened fire. One of the masked gunmen got out of the vehicle, stood over Mack after he had fallen to the ground and fired several more times.

Mack was shot at least seven times, investigators said. The other girl was injured.

Prosecutors began a hearing Thursday by showing surveillance video from the apartment complex were Mack was shot, which showed his last moments.

Prosecutors also showed text messages they said the teenage girl deleted. They said the messages were between herself and a suspect, Kendrick Johnson, who was charged in Mack’s death. The messages showed one of the other suspects instructing the teenage girl not to discuss their plans via text message and asking her to call him instead.

Along with the Lamar High Schol student and Johnson, Dave’on Thomas is also a suspect charged in connection with the case.

The judge also saw a recorded police interview, where the teenage girl is asked by a detective if she knew the other two suspects were planning to shoot and kill Mack. She admitted to knowing Mack was going to be targeted for “being evil” and added that people get “what’s coming to them.”

The hearing’s first witness, a Houston Police detective, said that the teenage girl admitted to having an “intimate” relationship with Johnson before the shooting.

Investigators have said they believe Mack’s death was part of a gang war.

A second witness was called on Thursday, a Houston Police detective who specializes in gang-related cases. The detective’s testimony showed that the juvenile female suspect had been seen throwing gang signs and may have been closely affiliated with the gang affiliated with Johnson.

Two other witnesses, some of the female suspects’ juvenile detention officers, were called to the stand. They mentioned that the juvenile female suspect was smart, more mature than the average person in detention and manipulative. One of the officers testified that she heard the female suspect say that this was not the first time “they” did something like this. They just were not caught before, according to one of the detention officers who testified Thursday.

The judge is expected to hear from several other witnesses Friday morning before making a decision.

KPRC 2 will not make the identity of the teenage girl charged in Mack’s death public unless she is charged as an adult.


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