Authorities Wednesday arrested a Houston man suspected of stabbing an 11-year-old boy to death as he walked home from school, but a motive for the murder remained unclear.
(FOX)- Federal marshals took Che Lajuan Calhoun, 31, into custody on the city’s southeast side and turned him over to Houston police homicide investigators, Deputy U.S. Marshal Alfredo Perez said.
“I believe the community was outraged and really came through with the tips,” Perez said.
Investigators believe Calhoun approached Josue Flores, a sixth-grader at Marshall Middle School, stabbed him several times in an “unprovoked” attack Tuesday afternoon. Josue wasn’t carrying a phone, laptop or any other electronic devices when he was stabbed, relatives said.
Several witnesses told officers they heard loud screaming and saw Josue struggling with a man. The boy collapsed on the grass near the sidewalk and the man ran off. A bystander flagged down police and alerted them to the wounded boy. He was taken to a hospital with multiple stab wounds and pronounced dead a short time later.
Family members said the boy had stayed at school late to participate in his science club.
“He wanted to be a doctor, he wanted to help people,” his sister, Sofia Flores, 16, said.