HUMBLE, Texas – A teen was charged with murder in connection to the deadly shooting of a Humble convenience store clerk on Friday over a stolen bag of chips.
Mario Young, 17, was identified as one of the suspects. He was booked in the Harris County Jail, charged with murder and in court today.
An 18-year-old whose identity has not been released was initially wanted for capital murder for the incident. Both teens turned themselves in to police on Sunday but law enforcement officials have not charged the 18-year-old for a crime at this time.
KPRC 2 reporter Corley Peel was there when the 17 and 18-year-old suspects surrendered at Houston Police Department headquarters.
They were accompanied by community activists Quanell X and Candice Matthews, who told KPRC 2 the teens are claiming self-defense. They’re accused of shooting and killing the convenience store clerk after he confronted them for stealing a bag of chips, investigators said.
“All of this started over a bag of chips and no human life is worth losing over a bag of chips,” said Quanell X.
Quanell X said the teens reached out to him about coming forward. Corley asked Quanell X if the teens felt remorse. He said the teens are claiming self-defense.
“These young men are scared. They are worried they definitely want their side of the story to be told,” said Quanell X.
“No one ever anticipates just going to work that day and not coming home,” Humble Assistant Police Chief Dan Zientek told KPRC 2 at the scene.
Surveillance videos from the Sunoco at 18228 Highway 59 southbound service road released by Humble police show the teens entering the store as the 42-year-old employee follows behind them. Inside the store, the teens pace around and focus on the chip aisle.
The video then appears to show one of the teens put a bag of chips in his pants. They leave about two minutes later.
The clerk, who has not been identified, is then seen on video following the suspects out of the store and engaging them in some sort of conversation. As the teens walked away, police said the employee got in his car and followed them.
“They started shooting at him, in which he tried to reverse his car and ended up on the median over there,” Zientek said.
Police said he was hit by one of the bullets and died while still seated in the driver’s seat of his car.
“You’ve lost a great citizen who’s just trying to work and do their job, and instead we have two people that also have ruined their lives because they will be going to jail,” Zientek said.
Quanell X said the teens have a different story.
“They did say to me that it was self-defense because there were multiple guns involved and it wasn’t just them. They believe the store clerk had a gun and that he pulled his gun first. Whether that’s the truth or not we don’t know but what we do know, it all should be on video.” said Quanell X.
KPRC 2 reached out to Humble Police for comment on Sunday. The agency said it is looking into our request.