Boy, 14, Charged With Murder After Egging Leads to Death

Woman was killed as fleeing boys allegedly ran red light, hit her truck
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 2, 2019 11:05 AM CST
14-Year-Old Charged With Murder After Egging Leads to a Death
In this Jan. 1, 2019, photo, vehicles remain on the scene following a fatal crash involving a 14-year-old boy who authorities say was driving an SUV in Houston. Officials said the SUV was filled with teens who were throwing eggs at other cars when another driver began chasing them.   (Nicole Hensley/Houston Chronicle via AP)

An egging prank ended with a murder charge after a New Year's Day tragedy near Houston. Police say a 14-year-old male driver and two teenage passengers were inside a GMC Acadia Tuesday afternoon, throwing eggs at cars driving by on a road in Aldine, when the driver of one of those cars allegedly pulled a gun and gave chase, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The boys fled in the SUV, ran a red light, and hit a Ford F-150 truck, police say—killing its driver, 45-year-old Silvia Zavala, NBC News reports. Zavala "was totally innocent; seems she had just gone shopping based on some debris strewn at scene," tweeted Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

The 14-year-old, who suffered a broken ankle in the crash, was arrested and charged with murder; he's been booked into a juvenile detention center. He was driving his father's car during the incident, police say; KHOU reports his parents are also being investigated as cops try to figure out why the teen had access to the car. Police have identified the driver of what's described as a yellow or gold late-model 1970s Lincoln Continental; he didn't stop at the scene of the crash after allegedly chasing the boys and the sheriff says "efforts are being made to interview him." (A YouTube stunt went fatally wrong.)

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