HOUSTON, TX – A felony murder charge has been filed against 32-year-old John Leathers in connection to the fatal shooting of a woman outside Club Aragon in southwest Houston.
According to court documents, the incident occurred around 3 a.m. on October 12 in the parking lot of the nightclub located at 8150 Southwest Freeway. A family had been leaving the club when a large fight broke out involving the woman’s adult children and others. Pepper spray was reportedly deployed during the altercation, leaving several individuals temporarily impaired.
The woman’s stepfather drove to the feeder road to pick up the adult children, and they soon discovered she had been shot. Emergency personnel responded to a secondary location at 8704 South Gessner, where the woman was pronounced deceased from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. The stepfather was also shot twice in the back but survived.
According to court documents, detectives reviewed police body-worn camera footage and documented a phone conversation between an officer and a tow truck driver who identified himself as John Leathers. Leathers stated he was working and blocking traffic near the front of the club around the time of the shooting. He claimed that “some females got into a fight” and that a boyfriend of one of them had a confrontation with a man in a black Cadillac SUV. Leathers described the shooter as a Hispanic male wearing a black shirt, blue pants, dress shoes, and a black baseball cap, who fired at the Cadillac. Leathers told the officer that the individual in the Cadillac did not shoot back and said he did not get a good look at that person.
However, surveillance video obtained from a nearby business contradicted that account. The footage showed a male matching Leathers’ description running toward the victims’ vehicle after the fight had dispersed. As the vehicle began reversing, the man raised both arms in a shooting stance and muzzle flashes were seen. He remained at the scene afterward, appeared to pick up shell casings from the ground, and then returned to a tow truck. Investigators traced the truck to a local company.
The business owner confirmed Leathers was the only driver on duty that night and identified him as the individual seen in the footage, wearing a company-issued uniform shirt. The identification was also confirmed using a Texas driver license photo.
On Tuesday, October 14, Leathers turned himself in to the Houston Police Department without incident and was booked into the Harris County Jail.
Leathers is charged in Harris County District Court under Cause No. 1936775.
If you have any information, you are urged to contact the Houston Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
