A man has been charged in connection to a January shooting that left a 22-year-old dead outside a Houston gas station, authorities said earlier today. The suspect, 30-year-old William Xavier Winfrey, is now facing murder charges for his alleged role in a botched robbery turned deadly on the night of January 27.
According to a statement from the Houston Police Department (HPD), Rasshauud Scott was found laying unresponsive with a gunshot wound in parking lot of the gas station at 11095 Ella Boulevard shortly after midnight. He was later pronounced dead at HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest.
Detectives learned that the incident unfolded as Scott, Winfrey, and other individuals orchestrated a fraudulent robbery. However, as it was taking place, an uninvolved witness drew a firearm and shot Scott, mistakenly believing he was halting an actual crime. The shooter, after fleeing, made contact with HPD and was subsequently released pending a grand jury review, suggesting he may have acted in defense, according to the HPD Homicide Division's investigators.
Following Winfrey's April 3 arrest, further revelations brought clarity to the intricate web of the planned deception that evening. Winfrey, now detained, had his booking photo released as part of the department’s news release. The probe into the counterfeit robbery has not yet been concluded.
This case serves as a grim reminder of the potentially tragic consequences when criminal schemes go awry. An HPD statement confirmed, "Investigators learned the shooter in this incident was not involved in the fraudulent robbery." Currently, there's no additional information on the other parties implicated in the aborted scam.
