Yvonne Raquel Ramirez, 19, is accused of fatally shooting an aspiring marine, 19-year-old Joshua McKinney, on New Year’s Eve. Ramirez is facing murder charges after shooting McKinney at about 4:30 A.M. on December 31st in Harris County, Texas.
According to KTRK, Ramirez came up with a plan to steal his firearms. A witness said that during the encounter, she asked for $2,000 to give his guns back, but the situation turned very violent.
The witness told the cops that McKinney put a gun to Ramirez’s head first and called the police a moment before the gunshots started on Mizell Street. Ramirez had one shot on the shoulder while Joshua McKinney was lifeless on the street.
KRTK reported that, at first, Ramirez told deputies the firearm went off by accident when McKinney dropped it. Later, Ramirez confessed she shot him in self-defense. Another witness saw Ramirez trying to move McKinney’s body after the shooting. According to prosecutors, she also stole his wallet.
Regina Willis, a former instructor at the Texas Challenge Academy (TCA), which McKinney graduated from, said he was a “Standout cadet.” He was determined to join the Marines to take care of his mother. “This death doesn’t seem real,” she told The Daily Beast.
Another instructor at the TCA told The Daily Beast that McKinney was goofy and always smiling but determined to do his schoolwork and get good grades.
Ramirez, the mother of a little girl, was sharing her future life on Facebook, “Everything falling in place, I start my job Monday, getting my car soon & then my apt. Couldn’t be more blessed Thank you, God,” she wrote.
Ramirez is still on hold on a $50,000 bail at the Harris County Jail since Wednesday. The Houston Chronicle reported that the Harris County Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether others were involved in the murder.
This article was inspired by New York Post // Teen accused of killing her New Year’s Eve date in botched gun theft