Suspect in Mandina’s murder accused of killing teen in Texas days later
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The Chalmette man accused of murdering a restaurant employee outside of Mandina’s last month also is accused of killing a 15-year-old Texas boy outside a Houston apartment complex eight days later, authorities said.
A court filing in Harris County (Texas) District Court shows the Houston Police Department used a ballistics match to link 22-year-year-old Kyron Fazande to a gun used in the killing of the Texas teen on May 6 and three other New Orleans crime scenes, including another homicide committed in September 2019.
Fazande, who was out on probation after pleading guilty to a January 2021 shooting in St. Bernard Parish, also is accused of wounding a 54-year-old woman from Chicago who was dining inside Mandina’s when Hilbert Walker, III was fatally shot outside.
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Fox 8 legal analyst Joe Raspanti says there is strong evidence to keep Fazande locked up.
“This goes beyond (Code of Criminal Procedure) 404b, showing a pattern of behavior,” Raspanti said. “They actually have physical evidence that links him to these other crimes. So, this is stuff that’s going to get into evidence and it’s a cumulative effect. I think he’s going to have a lot of problems.”
Houston police say the weapon found when Fazande was arrested earlier this month at an apartment in the city was linked to the killing of a teen who investigators said was seen wearing all black clothing, a black ski mask and peering into parked cars at the complex on the morning of May 6. The teen was fatally shot in the head in the carport area of the complex, and found lying on his back between two cars.
An arrest warrant affidavit accusing Fazande of the killing said several witnesses reported hearing a gunshot and then seeing a slim man fleeing the scene on foot. Investigators learned Fazande and his girlfriend had arrived three days earlier from New Orleans and were staying at a woman’s apartment in the complex.
A search of the apartment yielded clothing that matched that of the suspect seen running from the scene of the teen’s shooting. Police also found the gun linked to the crimes, wrapped in men’s underwear and hidden inside a purse inside the girlfriend’s suitcase.
Raspanti says Fazande’s girlfriend could be charged as an accessory or with obstruction of justice, if prosecutors think the evidence supports a case against her.
Detectives interviewed the girlfriend, who said she and Fazande had shopped at a local Walmart earlier in the morning on May 6. Video surveillance footage obtained from the store showed Fazande wearing the same clothes seen on the teen’s suspected shooter by witnesses a short time later.
Fazande has not been extradited to New Orleans, and now might not see a Louisiana courtroom for some time if Houston authorities retain him for prosecution of the teen’s slaying first.
Raspanti says Orleans Parish DA Jason Williams should push his cases forward.
“If they have to take him to trial, they will,” Raspanti said. “This is a murder. They should go forward with it.”
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