Dwayne Batiste: Texas man sentenced to life in prison for fatal ambush of 11-year-old and his stepfather

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HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: A Harris County man was sentenced for the fatal ambush of an 11-year-old and his stepfather in 2020 as they were in their driveway.

On October 26, 2020, Dwayne Batiste, aged 43, was found guilty of capital murder and subsequently sentenced to life in prison.

Batiste murdered Dominic Sumicek and his 41-year-old stepfather, Menuell Solomon, while they were seated in Solomon's vehicle outside their residence.

Dwayne Batiste is suspected of planning a heist

"This defendant’s intentions were clear: he wanted to commit murder and was trying to hide behind the triggerman who killed an innocent man and a little boy in broad daylight," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said, according to Fox26 Houston.

"We are grateful to the jurors who agreed that a capital murder conviction is the right result because it means this man can never again threaten our community," he added.

In the planned and heinous ambush that shocked and saddened Houston residents, Batiste is the second individual to be convicted.

About a week before the shooting incident, Solomon informed the police that he had been fired upon by an individual he believed to be Batiste while he was entering his West Houston townhouse's driveway.

Solomon informed the police that he was unaware of the motive behind the targeting, but prosecutors suspect it was an attempted armed robbery.

During the shooting, Batiste dropped his phone, which was captured on video by the neighbor's doorbell camera.

According to the prosecution, he orchestrated Solomon's murder to deflect suspicion from himself regarding the earlier robbery.

A week later, on the day of the ambush, Batiste and a prominent gang member, Desmond Hawkins, parked their vehicles separately at an apartment complex and waited until Solomon returned home.

Dwayne Batiste convicted of capital murder in double homicide

At 4:12 pm, Hawkins fired two shots at the 11-year-old and four shots at Solomon, resulting in the deaths of both victims, who were together with Solomon's stepson at the time.

According to court documents, the entire attack lasted a mere 49 seconds, after which they both departed in separate cars.

Hawkins was already out on bond for a previous capital murder and wore a GPS tracker. He was taken into custody by Houston Police Department detectives for the double homicide.

After conducting an investigation, HPD detectives arrested Batiste and concluded that three additional individuals had participated in the armed robbery and deadly assault.

After a five-day trial, Batiste was automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of capital murder.

"We believe that the murders were clean-up for the earlier attempted aggravated robbery, and Dwayne Batiste tried to wrap himself in a cloak of deniability—he made sure he stayed hidden and had someone else do his dirty work for him," Assistant District Attorney Christopher Condon said.

"At the end of the day, if not for the actions of Dwayne Batiste, 11-year-old Dominic Sumicek would now be a freshman in high school."

Authorities urge anyone with information regarding the identities of other suspects to contact the Houston Police Department or Crime Stoppers of Houston.