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Charges Dropped Against Che Calhoun In The Fatal Stabbing Of An 11-Year-Old Boy

By Monique Harris
Published on: 09:18 PST, May 20, 2016

Charges have been dropped against Che Lajuan Calhoun, who was accused in the stabbing death of an 11-year-old, Josue Flores.

“The murderer is still on the loose at this point,” Houston homicide Lt. Robert Blain told reporters Friday after the announcement of dropped charges against Calhoun.

Calhoun had been charged with murder and was facing several other charges for an incident in which he ran from police officials and was tasered the day before. Che made his appearance in court overnight.

The Houston Police Department held a press conference on Friday to discuss the case. Investigators said Calhoun’s alibi on the day Josue was killed checks out. Officials confirmed he was in Pearland at the time the boy was murdered.

“(Investigators) located witnesses from his alibi and late Thursday night, we recovered physical evidence that he (Calhoun) was in Pearland,” Lt. Robert Blain with the HPD homicide unit said.

During the press conference Blain said when police first arrested Calhoun for the murder, they felt they had a strong case because a witness picked Che out of a lineup.

“That witness even told me Calhoun was the one who killed Josue,” Blain said.

Calhoun was accused of stabbing the boy repeatedly as the 11 year-old walked home from Marshal Middle School Tuesday afternoon. Blain believes the incident is random.

Investigators targeted Calhoun for the crime because he was in the exact area the day before. On Monday, Che was involved in an accident with METRO police. He was said to be wearing the same clothes as the killer which was all black with a green tee-shirt thrown over his shoulder. From that incident, investigators connected him to Josue’s murder.

Calhoun was captured on camera fighting with a man in the street and then running away from police after being tasered. Officers, accompanied by a K-9 unit, searched but never found Calhoun that day.

Che was arrest on Wednesday afternoon and did not give police an alibi initially. He is expected to be released from Harris County Jail on Friday but he still faces charges for evading arrest on Monday.

The suspect described as a black male dressed in all black is still on the loose. A witness of the incident spoke to local news, KPRC-TV, and said he heard Jose screaming and yelling to the man, “Please. Here. Take everything. Don’t kill me. Don’t kill me, please,” the witness said.

Hundreds of neighbors packed the Leonel Castillo Community Center on South Street in support of Josue and to demand change. Josue’s older brother came to the meeting in support of his family because his parents are having a difficult time dealing with the tragedy.

“This shows me how much the community cares,” Juan Flores, Josue’s older brother said.

The people in the community want to ensure tragedy of this nature does not happen again. Mayor Sylvester Turner and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee spoke to the community to assure them they were of priority.

“We’re going to work very closely to do everything we can to make sure this community is safe,” Mayor Turner said. “Do what we can to beef up patrols in this area, they don’t want this area to be a ‘dumping ground’ and I think that’s understandable.”

“This requires all layers of government,” Rep. Jackson Lee said. “I deal with homeless persons and we know that people are homeless in this community. We don’t want them to be homeless, we also want young people to live safely in this community.”

On Friday Josue’s classmates honored him by wearing all white, reported the Houston Chronicle.

Harris County Constable Mark Herman offered additional reward money in conjunction with Crime Stoppers.

“It is very important we get this suspect off our streets before he commits another senseless crime,” Herman said in a release.

[Photo by David J. Philip/AP Images]

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