Texas teen, Javon Martin shoots girlfriend, Makaila Simon dead moments after brandishing rifle on Instagram video thinking gun wasn’t loaded.
Instagram video has emerged showing a Texas teenager waving a rifle in his girlfriend’s face just moments before police say he fatally shot the 15-year-old girl in the chest.
Javon Martin, 17, was arrested Sunday morning and charged with negligent homicide in the shooting death of Makaila Simon in Spring, Texas.
The victim had just turned 15 years old three days before her death.
According to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, Simon and Martin were in an upstairs bedroom at a home in the 2300 block of Kimberly Glen Lane in Spring at 1.30am when she was shot.
Court documents state that when police interviewed Martin, the boy told them he had picked up the rifle and had begun pointing it in the Simon’s direction when he pulled the trigger and the firearm discharged.
Martin reportedly told investigators he thought he had checked to make sure the rifle was not loaded before brandishing it around Simon, reported Chron.com.
ONLY ON 2: One of Makaila Simon’s last recordings. You can hear the 15-year-old asking Javon Martin, 17, to stop pointing the rifle at her. This was recorded minutes before Makaila was fatally shot in her chest. Martin faces a criminal negligent homicide charge. @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/zsBW0JEgbL
— Taisha Walker (@KPRC2Taisha) January 27, 2019
Makaila Simon to Javon Martin moments before shooting: ‘Stop pointing gun at me’.
A brief cellphone video recorded just moments before the shooting – and obtained first by KPRC – shows the boy waving the rifle.
A girl believed to be Simon is heard giggling in the background and telling Martin to stop pointing the gun at her.
The pair were alone in the room but there were other people in the house at the time, according to the authorities.
Simon was pronounced dead at the scene from her injuries.
Makaila Simon mother seeking justice:
Simon’s family said she was a freshman at Lamar High School. Just 24 hours before her death, Simon celebrated her birthday at a Cheesecake Factory.
She and Martin had been dating for about a year. The girl’s family members said the couple had been arguing over allegations of infidelity.
Told the teen girl’s mother, Nicole Malbrough via abc13, ‘She’s a very sweet, giving, kind hearted person, very mindful and respectful. Everything you would want in a daughter’.
‘I’m pretty sure she would not have been over here, and I’m pretty sure it was not an accident,’ added the mother, ‘Very hard, everyone is in grief and everybody wants answers and justice’.
Reiterated the mother, ‘Something needs to be done as far as gun violence. It should be no reason why a 15-year-old or 14-year-old have guns. It should be no reason how parents are even allowing guns to even be in their home’.
Javon Martin, 17, is charged with criminal negligent homicide in the shooting death of his girlfriend Makaila, 15. @HCSOTexas says Martin was playing with a rifle when he pointed and pulled the trigger. It happened at a friend’s house in Spring. @KPRC2 https://t.co/cfDqSx0vwZ pic.twitter.com/0jkXNoKVwQ
— Taisha Walker (@KPRC2Taisha) January 27, 2019
Javon Martin prior episodes:
Martin appeared in court for a probable cause hearing Sunday, at which time a judge set his bail at $10,000.
The 17-year-old was indicted last July on a felony charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle for riding in someone’s car without permission. That case against him is still pending and he was scheduled to go on trial in June.
According to his attorney in that case, Martin did not know the car he was riding in was stolen. Lawyer, Maverick Ray said that prior to the incident, his client had no run-ins with the law and was a good student with his sights set on attending college next year.
