Members of a murdered 16-year-old girl’s family tried to attack her killer, her ex-boyfriend, during a court hearing in Houston, the Associated Press reports. The ex-boyfriend had pleaded guilty to shooting her nearly two dozen times while she was walking her dog. Frank DeLeon, 19, agreed to plead guilty to murder in the January 2022 death of Diamond Alvarez in exchange for a 45-year prison sentence. Alvarez was shot 22 times. She had planned to meet DeLeon, who was 17 at the time, to talk with him after finding out he had been in another relationship while they were still dating, prosecutors said.
Video of the court hearing shows Alvarez’s mother, Anna Machado, finishing her statement and walking toward DeLeon, who was sitting at a table with his attorney. A bailiff blocks her path before she reaches the teen. Suddenly, Alvarez’s uncle rushes to the front of the courtroom toward DeLeon. The uncle is quickly restrained, but DeLeon’s mother then comes and starts shoving Alvarez’s mother. A woman pulls DeLeon’s mother to the ground before bailiffs pull the two apart and secure the courtroom. After the court hearing, Machado told reporters she had been very angry. “I pray to God that he’ll remove that anger from me one day,” she said. “It was wrong of us and I apologize for that. I apologize to the judge, apologize to them ... and I’m so sorry. This should never happen.”