CLEAR LAKE, Texas – A Houston man has been sentenced to serve 30 years behind bars after murdering someone during a “botched drug deal,” according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Kendrick Marquis Bluitt, 23, pleaded guilty the day before his trial was set to begin earlier this week.
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According to the DA, Bluitt shot and killed 21-year-old Caleb McCarty in the Clear Lake area back on Sept. 30, 2020.
Bluitt allegedly admitted to investigators that, on the day of the shooting, he and two young women met up with McCarty to buy marijuana at a convenience store located in the 240 block of El Dorado Boulevard around 5:40 p.m.
McCarty entered a car in which Bluitt was a passenger. The two men started arguing and, once McCarty opened the backseat door to exit, Bluitt shot him in his back three times, authorities said.
Bluitt and the two women fled, and McCarty died at the scene.
Homicide detectives with the Houston Police Department investigated the case. Bluitt was eventually arrested. The women were not charged.
“Gun violence in our community is pervasive and far too often we see someone pull a gun and start shooting just to solve an argument,” Ogg said. “And when that happens, it is a tragedy for everyone involved.”
“He was really loved, and they said he had a smile that would light up a room,” Assistant District Attorney Edward A. Appelbaum said. “This was an act of cowardice – a callous and cold-blooded murder that did not have to happen. It started with an argument over nothing.”