On June 24, a pastor of East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church named Ronald Mouton Sr. was fatally shot by an Uber driver.
HOUSTON, TEXAS- According to the police, an Uber driver named Deshawn Longmire, who is 23 years old, was detained and charged with murder after he allegedly shot and killed a pastor during an apparent episode of road rage. Longmire was also charged with murder.
On June 24, the pastor of East Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, Ronald Mouton Sr., was shot and murdered after witnesses witnessed him getting into an altercation with another driver. The perpetrator of the shooting was not immediately taken into custody.
The Uber driver, who is 23 years old, has been taken into custody by the police, and he is being charged with murder. According to the information that can be seen online from the Harris County District Clerk’s Office, Deshawn Longmire is now being detained in the Harris County Jail on a bail of $500,000.
According to an arrest complaint that was acquired by an NBC station in Houston named Click2Houston, witnesses informed police that they witnessed Deshawn and Ronald arguing as they were waiting at a stoplight. Neither one of them got out of their respective automobiles.
According to the arrest report, Deshawn was working for Uber in his black Honda car with a peeling window tint while Ronald was driving a white BMW. Deshawn’s vehicle had a tint that had partially peeled off. According to a statement released by Uber, Deshawn was operating the vehicle alone at the time of the incident and did not have any passengers with him.
According to the statements made to the police by eyewitnesses, Deshawn “extended his arm out of the driver window with a handgun in his hand” before reportedly shooting Ronald and fleeing the site after the incident. In the meanwhile, Ronald was driving when he was involved in a vehicle accident, and he was declared dead at the spot.
According to the authorities, Deshawn and Ronald did not know one other previous to the occurrence and did not know each other at all. According to what Deshawn informed the police, he was nowhere near the location of the claimed assault when it took place. Nevertheless, it was alleged that a cellphone search disproved those allegations, and data from Uber were included in the arrest report that was acquired by KHOU-TV to establish that Deshawn was in the vicinity when Ronald was shot.
According to the documents that can be seen online at this time, Deshawn has not yet entered a plea, and he also does not have a counsel who is permitted to speak on his behalf. Following the conclusion of the inquiry, Uber terminated Deshawn’s access to the app that allows users to hail cars.
Family says “senseless tragedy” in a statement
During this time, Ronald’s family has made a statement in response to the arrest of the Uber driver. “we are still grief-stricken over this terrible tragedy,” they said. The family went on to say, “We want the person who we believe was responsible for his death to comprehend the gravity of what he did. He was responsible for the death of a father and a spouse. Our faith and expectations are pinned on the professionalism of the police force. In addition, we pray that the work that is being done by the whole of the criminal justice system is done completely and that justice is served in an appropriate manner.”
While speaking with Defender, Ronald Mouton Sr’s longtime friend Bishop James Dixon said that Ronald’s family is still in mourning after the passing of Ronald Mouton Sr. Ronald had served as a pastor in the neighbourhood for 32 years.
