Teen Immigrant Charged with 3 Counts of Murder, Released from Jail to Attend School
A Sudanese teenager will resume his life now that he is free on bail only weeks after being charged with three counts of murder.
Ahmedal Tayeb Elnouman Modawi, 17, made bail over the weekend, according to KPRC-TV in Houston.
Modawi faces three counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury stemming from an Oct. 1 joyriding incident that ended in tragedy.
As a condition of his release, Modawi can attend school and church, and must wear a GPS ankle monitor.
Modawi is a Sudanese national who has lived with his family in Houston for the past five years. He is not an American citizen.
Noncitizen in Houston charged with 3 counts of murder released from jail, permitted to attend school. Ahmedal Tayeb Elnouman Modawi, who is originally from Sudan and not a U.S. citizen, was charged with three counts of murder…https://t.co/fdLOoLY17C
— Suzanne Hoskins (@TweettyTweets) October 26, 2021
The teenager who had worked as a valet at a Houston restaurant, was spotted by police at about 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 1 while driving a customer’s white Infiniti G37 and doing various stunts in a parking lot. Modawi fled when the officer who spotted him hit the lights and siren.
He did not get far but struck and killed three valets who worked at another restaurant, Eric Orduna, 22; Nick Rodriguez, 23; and Fran Measho, 18. He then flipped the car before it crashed into a fence. Modawi and a passenger each suffered leg injuries.
[firefly_poll]
“We’re talking about three individuals who were just out here working. They were out here doing their job. They were coming back from parking cars going to get more cars,” Sean Teare, Harris County assistant district attorney, told KPRC after the incident. “We’re going to prosecute this person to the fullest extent because this is completely unacceptable.”
Modawi’s bond was set at $350,000 but was later reduced to $220,000.
Johntrel Lewis, the customer who owned the vehicle Modawi was driving, had left the car to be parked that night when he went into a sports bar.
“I’m trying to figure out what you were you thinking when you jumped in the car,” Lewis said, according to KPRC.
He had come out of the bar to take a picture of the accident when he realized it was his own car.
“I took a picture of it and I’m sending it to my friends like, ‘Bro, somebody’s car is jacked up, they’re going to be mad in the morning,’” he said. “That was my car.”
After getting a ride home, he said, he received a call from the police.
“That’s when the detective called me,” he said. “He was like, ‘Your car was involved in a homicide. It was used in a homicide. It’s totaled. There’s nothing you can do.’”
Bob Lowry was at a nearby establishment when the crash happened.
“It sounded like a clap of thunder. I looked over and a car just came flying through the air and hit the ditch,” Lowry told KPRC.
He said he was sorry for the valets who were mowed down.
“Just doing their jobs, God bless them. I hope justice has a swift hand,” Lowry said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
