Suspect in custody in connection with family murdered in SW Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — On Friday, the mayor of Houston made it clear in a briefing that the city is not going to sit silent amid a historic crime wave.

The violence this week is shocking. In total, five kids were shot between Wednesday night and Thursday night.

Some kids were hit by stray gunfire and are recovering, but others have been killed.

Wednesday night, almost an entire family was murdered execution-style in their apartment in southwest Houston.

Xavier Davis, 28, was arrested and charged with three counts of capital murder in connection to the shooting. He was taken into custody Thursday on an unrelated family violence charge.

A 10-year-old who was shot in the arm played dead after her father, mother and 6-year-old sister were all killed in their apartment. HPD is searching for the shooter.

The briefing started late on Friday because family members of the Carhee family showed up to City Hall unexpectedly. Officials spoke with them and invited them on stage with Mayor Sylvester Turner.

“We stand here strong with these families and ask our community to do one thing — when we have children who are impacted by violent crime, please throw our hearts around their families,” said HPD Chief Troy Finner.

Little Harmony Carhee, 6, and her parents, Donyavia Lagway and Gregory Carhee, were all shot and killed Wednesday in their apartment on Fondren just after 10:30 p.m.

Harmony’s 10 year-old sister was also shot, but she played dead during the rampage then FaceTimed her grandmother to show her what happened after everything was over.

“She was strong. She was hurt. But my baby came out of nowhere, from whatever way she had, to make stuff happen,” grandmother Manda Lagway said. “I just want everyone to know my baby is a hero. My baby is a hero.”

The 10-year-old was released from the hospital on Friday, and is recovering from her injuries. She told police the killer knocked on the door of the apartment before the rampage.

He had a mask on and grabbed her 1-year-old baby brother by the hair and threw him, the little girl told police. He then shot the victims in the head.

She said she played dead and when the killer left, she got her brother and locked the door.

“Their lives have been permanently changed,” said Turner. “I just want to extend my condolences and prayers to these families whose lives have been changed in the last 48 hours.”

The 1-year-old was not injured, family said. The couple also has an 8-year-old son who was spending the night with his uncle the night of the shooting.

A suspect in this shooting has been taken into custody, Turner said. Police are still looking for the second shooter.

“The one that’s not in custody, I’m not going to say your name, but you know who you are and so do we,” said Finner. “Turn yourself in and face up to it.”
Turner announced the city had added six cadet classes to HPD to an effort to increase the number of police on the streets.

“For individuals who are walking and driving on our streets and shooting these guns just like as if they are BB guns, that’s totally unacceptable,” he said. “We’ll put forth the overtime to protect the city.”