A Houston man already behind bars on an unrelated charge has been charged with murder in connection with a fatal shooting that left a 26-year-old man dead in the Fifth Ward nearly three years ago.
Zachary Harper, 47, was charged Wednesday in the 338th Criminal District Court in the killing of Armin Mirazimi, whose body was found inside a vehicle in a vacant lot along Saint Elmo Street on the morning of Sept. 10, 2023.
Houston Police Department officers originally responded to the scene just before 9 a.m. that Sunday after a resident reported a vehicle had been parked outside their home for two days. Officers found Mirazimi unresponsive in his vehicle, suffering from a gunshot wound. Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
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At the time of the shooting, investigators noted that a gray 2000s Mercury Grand Marquis with a black vinyl roof over the backseat was seen leaving the crime scene.
HPD Homicide Division Sgt. R. Montalvo and Detective D. Higgs led the investigation, which eventually identified Harper as a suspect. Harper was already in custody on a separate, unrelated charge when he was charged in Mirazimi’s death.
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