Family of slain teen attacks suspect in court, video shows. ‘Want my daughter back’
.png "A courtroom brawl was caught on camera when family members charged after the man convicted of killing his 16-year-old girlfriend.")
A courtroom brawl in Texas was caught on camera when family members charged after the man convicted of killing his 16-year-old girlfriend.
Frank DeLeon Jr., 19, was in a Houston courtroom Tuesday, Oct. 17, where he pleaded guilty to the shooting death of Diamond Alvarez, KTRK reported. He agreed to serve 45 years in prison, according to KPRC.
Alvarez’s mother, Anna Machado, was giving a victim impact statement on the stand when she stepped down, began walking toward DeLeon and was restrained by security, a video posted to YouTube by KHOU shows.
Then, a man, whom KHOU reported to be Alvarez’s uncle, charges at DeLeon. Another woman, reported to be DeLeon’s mother, is seen running toward Machado. A third woman then joins the brawl and begins fighting with DeLeon’s mother.
“That was wrong of me, that was wrong of us … because we’re not monsters … but it’s so much hate … because I want my daughter back, and what he did was horrible, seeing my daughter there and looking at him… knowing he did that, and him laughing at my face, it was very wrong and I’m so sorry for that,” Machado told KHOU.
Alvarez was 16 when she was killed in 2022. She was walking her dog and was shot 22 times. DeLeon was her boyfriend at the time, and the two were involved in a love triangle with another teen, KPRC reported.
“I pray to God that he’ll remove that anger from me one day, I don’t know when, but one day, that I can see or think differently of him,” Machado said in a video from KTRK.
DeLeon was supposed to be in court Monday for trial, but it was delayed because he was in a car accident on the way to court, KPRC reported.
This story was originally published October 17, 2023 at 5:01 PM.
