Near-victim of crime gang talks about experience

An 18-year-old man tells KPRC he came close to becoming a victim of the five people charged in a murder spree — but rather than killing him, they let him go, and he still doesn't know why. The man, who identified himself only as "Vince," said the group kidnapped him June 19, the day after police day they carjacked and killed Maria Chrisalee Aparece and Huy Ngo.

Vince said the group stopped at his car, pointed a gun at him and kidnapped him. They debated killing him, and Vince said he later recognized 18-year-old Dexter Johnson, who police say was the ringleader of the group, when he saw him on television. "I had a good look at Dexter. He was driving the blue Matrix. He wanted to kill me," Vince said. But he said the others pushed for Johnson not to kill him:

"I'm just thinking through my head, 'They're just probably going to shoot me, then open the door and kick me out and throw me out.' But next thing you know, they just opened the door and said this is my stop and they just pushed me out while driving," Vince said.

He said he still doesn't know why the group let him go. "I ask myself every day," he said.

Also on Wednesday, family members of some of the suspects said their children are innocent of charges in connection with the string of robberies, kidnappings and murders. At a news conference arranged by New Black Panthers leader Quanell X, the mothers of 17-year-old Ashley Ervin and 19-year-old Timothy Randle said their kids were good and simply fell into a bad crowd led by Johnson and 17-year-old Keithron Fields. Alvie Butler's family wasn't present, but Quannell X said he knows Butler and doesn't think he took part in the crimes. The kids' families "did not raise savages or killers," he said.

HPD spokesman Sgt. David Crain said the slate of charges against the five "speaks for itself."