HOUSTON – An Humble man was sentenced to life in prison for shooting another man in northeast Houston in 2019, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Thursday.
Larry Rodriguez, 45, was sentenced last Friday. A jury convicted him of murder in the fatal shooting of 34-year-old Cedric Gordon on Aug. 10, 2019.
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According to investigators, Gordon drove to a home in the 2000 block of Kowis Street late on a Friday night to see a female friend. When Gordon arrived at the semi-rural property, authorities said Rodriguez approached him and shot him. Gordon was able to get back in his car and tried to drive away. He lost control of the vehicle and ended up in a roadside ditch nearby, Ogg said.
While Gordon was sitting in his car in the ditch, investigators said Rodriguez approached him again and shot him several more times, killing him. He then fled the scene.
Deputies with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office responded to the incident. They later found Rodriguez and arrested him.
“Gun violence, like domestic violence, often escalates, and in this case we see a dangerous man who believed he could kill a stranger for no reason,” Ogg said. “This victim’s family lost their loved one because a man with a gun thought he could get away with murder.”
Assistant District Attorney Brett Batchelor, a chief in the DA’s trial bureau, prosecuted Rodriguez in a five-day trial with ADA Elizabeth Liberman.
Batchelor said jurors agreed that Rodriguez needed to be off the street for the “rest of his life” after hearing that he had three additional aggravated assault charges. In one case, Rodriguez reportedly hit a man with a large metal bar. In another, he used a pocket knife to stab a man in the face. He also pushed a man into a concrete pole, smashing his head, authorities said.
“He doesn’t value human life and is very dangerous, scary and violent to the people around him,” Batchelor said. “He had an extensive criminal history and was absolutely terrorizing this neighborhood.”