Marietta Allison, Austin, Texas woman shot & killed by Darius DeWayne Hall during carjacking after traveling to Houston to help friend, Cassie Daniel undergoing stage 4 cancer treatment. Teen suspect had been out on supervision on a number of felony charges.
A 61-year-old Austin, Texas woman who’d traveled to Houston to support a friend undergoing cancer treatment was shot and killed by a teenage carjacker over the weekend, authorities said.
Marietta Allison was discovered lying on West 20th Street in the Heights with a gunshot wound to the neck at around midnight Saturday morning after a teen assailant had tried robbing her of her purse moments after parking before then fleeing with her vehicle.
Allison, the co-founder of her own travel company, was taken to a hospital but later died from her injuries, KHOU 11 reported.
Teen suspect carjacker flees scene before eventual arrest and capital murder charge
Darius DeWayne Hall, 18, was spotted by officers at around 1 a.m. driving around in the stolen vehicle, triggering a high speed police chase.
At some point the fleeing teen crashed the vehicle along the Southwest Freeway and tried to run, leading to an hours-long standoff in a nearby residential neighborhood, barricading himself in an empty apartment before the wanted teen’s eventual capture.
Following his arrest, Hall was booked on charges of capital murder, tampering with evidence, and evading arrest, according to the Houston Police Department.
Cancer patient friend who victim had come to assist reflects
Devastated friends and family have paid tribute to Allison in the aftermath.
Describing her as ‘like a sister,’ cancer patient, Cassie Daniel said Allison had been caring for her since the diagnosis.
‘Her number one mission was to help me beat this cancer,’ Daniel said.
Daniel recalled how Allison had driven her back from the chemo treatment center in her car at around 10:50 p.m. Friday.
‘There wasn’t any parking, so Marietta had driven around the block to find a parking spot, and we heard the gunshot,’ Daniel said in a Facebook post.
While adding, ‘He left two guns in my car, and they have a shell casing on the scene so they can match ballistics. He claims the guns are not his.
‘I was told that he picked up a 16-year-old prostitute (who has been a prostitute since she was 13 – my heart broke at that) who also saw him with a gun.’
‘She was incredibly special to me. When we talked, we often talked about empathy, family, and our desire to grow and improve as individual human beings,’ Allison’s nephew Nate James Bakke said on Facebook.
Juvenile suspect had been under supervision following four previous felony charges
Hall was already under supervision under juvenile court for four previous charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, court records show.
Prosecutors said he had received a 10-year sentence, with three years probated through 2027.
A prosecutor told the court that Hall, confessed to evading police and admitted being in the vehicle, but denied involvement in the shooting.
Hall who was denied bond following a Saturday morning court appearance is scheduled back in court on March 23.
Allison leaves behind a husband, Forest Allison, who described her as the love of his life and two children.
