AUSTIN, Texas — Friends say Austin woman Marietta Allison was the victim of a deadly carjacking in Houston on Friday while accompanying someone to chemotherapy.
According to the Houston Police Department, 18-year-old Darius Dewayne Hall has been charged with capital murder after allegedly shooting the 61-year-old woman and leaving the scene with the car she was driving.
Allison’s close friend, Cassie Daniel, told KHOU in Houston that Allison came with her from Austin to support her through her first round of cancer treatment.
“She died because she was helping a friend fighting cancer, from a senseless act,” Daniel said. “That’s just a lot of evil.”
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Court documents show Hall was already on community supervision for previous charges of aggravated assault and robbery.
Daniel serves as a chief of staff to State Rep. Candy Noble of North Texas. Noble released a statement on X over the weekend, asking followers to join her in prayer for Daniel and for Allison’s family.
“We believe in second chances and fresh starts. However, when a juvenile with a violent past becomes an adult with a violent present, the public should be have all that information. I will be filing that bill,” she added in a post on Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Justice also confirmed on Tuesday that Hall is now facing federal carjacking and firearms charges as well. The carjacking charge alone could carry up to a death sentence if convicted.
“There’s got to be other solutions, other mechanisms, other ways that this doesn’t happen to people,” Daniel said.