A dispute that started over what one woman thought was a weird look turned into pepper spray, a knife, and now a pair of second-degree felony indictments. A Brazoria County grand jury has indicted two Houston women, 23-year-old Lariah Sherell Nellums and 24-year-old Shavoreya Mylan Carr, on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges stemming from a September confrontation in Pearland.
According to The Facts, the confrontation began after Nellums believed three women sitting inside a car were looking at her strangely. Officer David Alvarenga said Nellums confronted the three women in the vehicle, and that Carr then ran out of a nearby store after spotting the fight already underway. Per the officer's account, Carr retrieved pepper spray and a knife from her own vehicle, then pepper-sprayed the victims before handing the knife to Nellums, according to court documents cited in the report.
Suspects Fled Before Police Arrived
Alvarenga said Carr and Nellums left the scene shortly after the confrontation, before officers arrived. Witnesses described the suspects' vehicle, and investigators say they identified it through an automated license plate reader. The camera system flagged the vehicle back in the same area the next day, which led officers to conduct a traffic stop and identify both women.
Police have said the three victims were younger than the suspects but were not minors, and that the victims and suspects were unrelated, having simply crossed paths by chance, according to Alvarenga's account. Investigators are not seeking additional suspects in the case, the officer said.
Charges, Bonds and Jail Status
Court records describe the women as accused of threatening three people inside the vehicle. Nellums was booked on September 26 and remains held in the Brazoria County jail, the article reports, while Carr was booked into custody on September 25 and was released on October 3. Bond in the aggravated assault case was set at $100,000 for each woman.
Nellums also faces an additional charge of criminal mischief involving property damage between $750 and $2,500, with a $25,000 surety bond tied to that charge. Carr faces an additional charge of assault causing bodily injury, also carrying a $25,000 surety bond. Both cases have been assigned to 239th District Judge Greg Hill, per the same account.
What a Conviction Could Mean
A conviction on the second-degree felony aggravated assault charges could carry a prison sentence of two to 20 years, a range consistent with Texas Penal Code § 12.33, which sets that punishment band for second-degree felonies statewide.
The case also highlights how automated license plate readers have become part of everyday policing in Pearland. Back in 2022, the Houston Chronicle reported that the city council approved a $191,000 purchase of license plate recognition cameras, drones and software in a 4-3 vote, with plans to expand the camera network to 30 units using narcotic-seizure funds. The Chronicle described the system as one that captures plate numbers and checks them against a database of wanted individuals or persons of interest, with the purchases carrying roughly $121,000 in recurring annual software and maintenance costs.
