2 men charged with killing 4-year-old linked to another murder

HOUSTON, Texas -- Two men who were previously charged with killing a 4-year-old girl on Nov. 14 in north Harris County have also been charged with capital murder in another fatal shooting just days before.

According to police, Phillip Battles, 18, and Ferrell Dardar, 18, are accused of killing Melvin Enrique Bonilla-Fuente, 31.

The shooting happened around 10 p.m. at 197 Goodson on Nov. 8, 2016.

Investigators said Bonilla-Fuente got out of his vehicle that night in the parking lot of an apartment complex and was approached by two men with pistols.

Police said there was some sort of struggle that ended with the victim being shot.

Witnesses told officers that they saw a red vehicle with at least four black men inside, but only two of them confronted Bonilla-Fuente.

The men were identified as Battles and Dardar and were both charged on May 31 with capital murder.

The two were also charged with the capital murder for the death of 4-year-old Ava Castillo. She was gunned down on Nov. 14 in the parking lot of her apartment complex in north Harris County during a robbery.

Her mother was shot seven times. Her ten-year-old sister was grazed by a bullet. Both survived.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you like I wish I could," Diana Gomez, Ava's mother, said in an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News.

Investigators said Battles, Dardar and Marco Miller, who was also charged, were part of a crew responsible for a number of other violent crimes.