U.S. Marshals arrest suspect accused of fatally stabbing boy walking home from school
HOUSTON -- The U.S. Marshals have arrested a suspect in the fatal stabbing of an 11-year-old boy. Josue Flores was killed as he was walking home from school in north Houston yesterday afternoon.
Authorities say 31-year-old Che Lajuan Calhoun is now in custody, but they have yet to release details surrounding the murder suspect's arrest.
Reports say Calhoun is a local homeless man who goes by 'Detroit', since he is originally from Michigan.
Carlos, a local homeless man, alleges he saw Calhoun stab Josue. He told abc13's Jeff Ehling, "The black man grabbed a hold of the kid and did something to him and threw him down on the ground. I saw him laying against the tree, but then I saw blood come up. I looked at him directly in the eye when I saw him."
STORY: Police: 11-year-old boy fatally stabbed in north Houston
Eyewitness News found a GoFundMe page apparently set up by Calhoun to buy a car last August. The message on the page starts with words, "I grew up blinded by drugs, hitting women."
It goes on to say Calhoun has changed his life, "God had other plans. He has given me a peace."
Houston Police are actively searching the area around Marshall Middle School for Calhoun.
Josue's sister says the family hopes Calhoun is taken into custody soon. "If it is him we want to see him arrested," she said.
VIDEO: Family members struggle to accept deadly attack
Parents dropping of their kids at Marshall Middle School are nervous for the safety of their children.
Parent Magaly Carbajal said, "They walk home, I am going to be thinking are they going to be walking home safe and I told them to call me as soon as they get home, you know, it's not safe."
Josue was a sixth-grader at Marshal Middle School.
"He had a bright future. He was very obedient and he was giving. You give him $10, he would buy everyone else something before he bought himself something," mother Maria Flores said.
According to investigators, Josue was walking home from school alone at about 4:45pm, headed southbound near the 1900 block of Fulton Street near James Street when a man approached him and repeatedly stabbed him. Several witnesses say they heard loud screaming and saw a black man and Josue struggling with one another. Josue then collapsed on the grass near the sidewalk and the suspect ran off northbound on Fulton St.
Josue was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital to be treated for multiple stab wounds, but it was too late.
"It feels like a person has stabbed me in my heart," Maria Flores added.
Josue's sister, Sophia, says he loved to draw, play soccer and wanted to be a doctor when he was older.
"I always talk to him about my problems and he always talk to me about his problems," Sophia said.
Investigators are currently searching for Calhoun and urge anyone with information to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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