SAN ANTONIO – A Houston man accused of murder in San Antonio is claiming self-defense, but an eyewitness contradicted that claim in court on Thursday.
Tavares Anderson has been on trial the entire week for the murder of 26-year-old Malcolm Ray Everett.
Everett was fatally shot outside his cousin’s Northwest Side apartment on July 18, 2021.
In testimony, Everett’s cousin, Terika Henderson, said she was casually dating Anderson, and he was in town visiting her.
After they all went out drinking, Henderson said Anderson was making inappropriate comments, and when she asked him to leave, he threw a fit.
Henderson said their argument spilled into the parking lot as she tried to take his stuff. She said Everett then approached and asked Anderson to leave as well.
“He never put his hands on him,” Henderson said. “Didn’t have any weapons on him.”
She said Anderson took out his handgun, and before she knew it, he fired a shot.
“I thought that he had shot me because I was just so close to him, but then I turned around, and then I realized Ray’s eyes were, like, flickering, but he was still standing,” Henderson said. “And then that’s when I realized that he was the one that was hit.”
Everett was hit once in the chest at close range. The bullet pierced his heart and aorta, causing his death, the medical examiner said during testimony.
The defense said in their opening statements on Tuesday that Henderson and Everett were the aggressors, and Anderson feared Everett was going to attack him.
The jury will decide which side of the story they believe. Deliberations could happen as early as Friday.
If found guilty, Anderson faces up to life in prison.