June 4, 2004, 12:05PM Mother of 9-year-old to be charged in death of boyfriend The mother of a 9-year-old boy who was originally implicated in a shooting Thursday night has been charged with murder, police said. Erika Lynn Ruiz, 29, is accused in the shooting death of her boyfriend, Jose F. Martinez, 27, Houston Police spokeswoman Silvia Trevino said late this morning. Investigators said a woman called police about 6 p.m. saying her son had just shot her boyfriend inside their southwest Houston apartment. Homicide detectives questioned Ruiz and her 9-year-old son late Thursday at the Glenmont Colony Apartments, 1507 Glenmont. Officers found Martinez dead inside the apartment from a single gunshot wound. Police determined the shooting occurred during an argument between Ruiz and Martinez, who had lived together for several years in the apartment and at elsewhere. Ruiz's son, who was in police custody overnight, has been released to his maternal grandmother. A Children's Protective Services hopes to interview the boy later today. Thursday night, crime scene specialists wrapped the hands of both the child and his mother in paper bags to preserve any possible gunpowder evidence. KHOU-TV reported that gunpowder tests confirmed Ruiz fired the fatal shot. The gun came from inside the house, but police did not know late Thursday who owned it. Police said there is no direct relationship between the man and the boy. Houston Independent School District security officers also were at the scene Thursday. District spokesman Terry Abbott said the woman works as a security guard at Sharpstown High School. Abbott did not have information about how long she has worked for the school district. "Our officers were there because of the fact an HISD security officer was involved," Abbott said. "Our police officers will go out in a matter like that when it involves an employee like that." _________________ There goes her mother-of-the-year nomination.... What kind of sick beyotch to you have to be to make your 9-year-old take the blame for something you did? She ruined his life when she fired the gun, but wanted to basically kill him by sending him to the slammer. I hope she gets a needle for that.
Maybe she wasn't trying to say that her son maliciously shot her boyfriend, but that he accidently shot him while playing with the gun. Not that it's acceptable, but at least it would mean she wasn't purposely trying to throw her son in jail. She probably traumatized him by killing someone in front of him, anyway.
Glenmont? Sooprise, sooprise. That apartment area is one of the most dangerous in the city, as well as the apartment area around the intersection of West Bellfort and Fondren.
