Teen Charged With Capital Murder After Fatal Shooting, Standoff in Houston Heights

Darius Dewayne Hall, 18, was denied bond on a capital murder charge after Houston police say he shot and killed 61-year-old Marietta Allison during a robbery on West 20th Street near Lawrence Street in the Heights, then led officers on a chase across the city in her stolen vehicle before barricading himself inside a vacant unit near the Southwest Freeway for several hours early Saturday morning.

Officers arrived at the West 20th Street scene around midnight on March 7 and found Allison lying on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the neck. First responders transported her to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. HPD Lt. Khan told ABC13 that Allison had parked her vehicle and was walking to a friend's home when she may have been robbed before the shooting.

About an hour after the initial call, around 1 a.m., officers spotted Hall driving Allison's stolen car. Multiple law enforcement agencies joined the pursuit, which ended when Hall crashed the vehicle near the Southwest Freeway feeder at Buffalo Speedway. He fled the crash on foot and barricaded himself inside a vacant unit at a townhome community near the crash site.

The standoff stretched for several hours, drawing SWAT teams and drawing neighbors outside into the dark. Resident Ken Knisely said the lights went out and he knew something had gone wrong. "Lights went out, and I said, 'Something's going down,'" Knisely told KHOU. "We could hear him on the megaphone, 'Come on out, we're not going to hurt you.'" Another neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous, stepped outside after hearing the crash and described the scene to ABC13: "I came out and saw that the police were out there with their guns in their hand, and they started screaming 'He's in there, he's in there.'"

SWAT officers eventually took Hall into custody. Harris County court records show he faces three felony charges: capital murder, evading arrest with a vehicle, and tampering with physical evidence. A judge denied bond on the capital murder charge while setting bond at $150,000 for the remaining two charges combined. Hall is due for a preliminary court appearance Monday at 9 a.m.

Court documents reviewed by multiple outlets reveal Hall was already under juvenile supervision for four prior charges at the time of the shooting, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.