Chaos in court as brother of girl, 15, shot 22 times while walking dog tries to attack her killer

A judge in Texas was forced to hit the panic button in her court and call in security after the brother of a murdered teenager attacked the 17-year-old accused of killing her. 

Judge Hazel Jones had to call for security at her courtroom in Houston after Abel Alvarez flew at Frank DeLeon, 17, over the January 11 murder of Alvarez’s sister Diamond Alvarez, 16.  

Diamond was shot 22 times as she walked the family dog, Peanut, near her home. 

Her on-off boyfriend DeLeon, 17, was arrested on January 17 and charged with her murder.

DeLeon was freed on a $250,000 bond, but was taken back into custody on Monday after his ankle monitor showed he had left house arrest without alerting authorities. His family said it was to go to church; the Alvarez family said the church was closed on Monday.

‘You have to remember the emotion in this family is high,’ said Cesar Espinosa, an advocate for immigrants with FIEL, the largest immigrant rights organization in Texas (Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha).

‘We ask the public to put yourself in this family’s shoes. What would you do if you had to face your daughter’s killer in court?’ 

Frank DeLeon Jr. of Houston, 17 (pictured left) was freed on a $250,000 bond in January, having been charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend Diamond Alvarez (right), who was shot 22 times in the back on January 11. The Alvarez family are seeking a revocation of his bond and on Thursday confronted DeLeon in court

Judge Hazel Jones is pictured on Thursday presiding over the bond hearing for Frank DeLeon in Houston

DeLeon, with a white hoodie over his head and holding on to a woman in a gray t-shirt, leaves court after the judge granted him bond

DeLeon kept his head down on Thursday as he left court in Houston to await his trial

Alvarez’s mother, Anna Machado (pictured in court on Thursday) tried to revive her dying daughter with CPR after she and her family found her riddled with gunshot wounds. She was dismayed that DeLeon was released on bail for the second time: ‘I’m mad, I’m angry. He’s laughing at all of this, it’s a joke. I’ve been screaming for my safety, I’ve been screaming. I’m scared’

The Alvarez family live near the DeLeon family, less than two minutes away, Fox 26 reported. 

Judge Hazel Jones reinstated DeLeon’s bond, after the ankle monitoring company admitted it could have been a glitch, and the teenager walked out of court with his relatives.

Alvarez’s mother, Anna Machado, said she was frightened for the safety of the family.

‘I’m mad, I’m angry. He’s laughing at all of this, it’s a joke,’ she said. 

‘I’ve been screaming for my safety, I’ve been screaming. I’m scared.

‘Right now they’re celebrating his f****** a** at home, hugging him, laughing at me, laughing at Diamond. 

‘I’m tired. I’m done. 

‘I want to laugh with my daughter. I want to hear my daughter laugh, too. I have to listen to videos to hear her voice.’ 

Blanca Mejia, Diamond Alvarez’s aunt, in the red t-shirt, is pictured in a court waiting room on Thursday, awaiting Judge Hazel Jones’s decision. Anna Machado, Alvarez’s mother, is in gray at the back of the room; Abel Alvarez, Diamond’s brother, is far right 

Houston police secures crime scene where Diamond Alvarez was murdered on January 11

Blanca Mejia, Diamond’s aunt, said: ‘He gets chances after chances.

‘It’s clear we cannot depend on that ankle monitor. 

‘That ankle monitor does not provide any safety for us. If it is glitching, it is not safe for us.’ 

Alvarez was killed a couple of blocks from her southwest Houston home, near a field that was used as a neighborhood park. 

She had gone to meet DeLeon around 9.30pm to confront him for dating her while he was in a long-term relationship with another girl. 

Alvarez and DeLeon had dated for under a year, and the 16-year-old’s mother said that her daughter was ‘always crying about him’ and they were ‘off and on’

DeLeon shot her 22 times in the back, according to the Houston Police Department.

Alvarez’s family was dismayed at his release in January.

‘He doesn’t deserve a bond. I don’t think so,’ said Machado at the time. 

‘I don’t think that’s right. I don’t care if he had no priors. I don’t care. 

‘Whatever he did, the way he executed my daughter, and he’s walking the streets like nothing and mocking people. What kind of animal is that?

‘He doesn’t even deserve a high bond. He executed my daughter.’ 

Prosecutors said DeLeon was ‘attempting to pack his bags to flee the jurisdiction’ and had a suitcase and clothes on his bed when he was apprehended by police. 

Machado said that DeLeon was her daughter’s ex-boyfriend and he had texted to ask her to meet him at the field shortly before she was killed.

The two had been going out for less than a year and Machado said she never saw any red flags to warn her that her daughter was in danger, but that ‘they were off and on.’

‘My daughter was always crying about him,’ Machado said.  

On the night of the teen’s death, Alvarez’s family told Houston NBC affiliate KPCR that they became concerned when they heard multiple gunshots while the girl was out walking their dog, Peanut.  

A makeshift memorial sits near the side of a street in Houston, next to a large grassy area where Diamond Alvarez was fatally shot

Alvarez was described as a straight-A student, who played volleyball and basketball, and was looking forward to a career as a beautician

Alvarez’s step-father, Tito Moczygenba, said that whoever ‘shot this girl in the back 22 times [is a] coward’

Diamond Alvarez (fourth from left to right) with her family members on New Year’s Eve

Moments later they heard scratching at the door and found the animal, with his leash and harness covered in blood, had run back to the home. 

‘When they saw Peanut by himself, they knew something was wrong,’ said Ashley Machado, the victim’s older sister. 

They quickly ran to find her.

Alvarez’s mother said her youngest son found Alvarez in a field, by the side of a road on 15400 Park Manor near Markwood Lane. 

She was still alive, and her mother desperately tried CPR, but she died at the scene.

‘My son found her. I tried CPR, and I couldn’t bring her back. I tried so hard to keep her alive. I couldn’t,’ Machado told local Fox affiliate KRIV-TV. 

Paramedics declared her dead at the scene. 

Alvarez’s stepfather, Tito Moczygenba, said that whoever ‘shot this girl in the back 22 times [is a] coward.’ 

The Houston Police Department said neighborhood residents claimed to have heard multiple shots and that a dark-colored car reportedly sped off from the site of the attack, traveling north on Markwood Lane.

Alvarez was described as a straight-A student, who played volleyball and basketball, and was looking forward to a career in cosmetology.