After four anxious months of waiting, a jury finally came to the conclusion as to whether a Dallas woman should be criminally charged in the fatal shooting of a Black boy she claimed tried to break into her home.
The verdict: free of charge.
Aleah Wallace received a no-bill from the Tarrant County grand jury after they found there was not enough evidence to charge her with a crime. The decision stems from a December 2023 incident. Wallace told FOX 4 News she shot at a boy who was later identified as 14-year-old Devin Baker after seeing him attempt to climb through her 8-year-old daughter’s window of their rental home.
“I was just protecting my kids,” she said in an interview following the incident. “I am devastated that he was 14. I hate that and I’m so sorry. But at that point I had to think about my babies. I didn’t know he was 14 when he was on the other side of that window.”
She also said this was the second time she had a concern of her safety and that of her four children after she’d previously called 911 to report what was the fifth attempted break-in.
Following the incident, police handed the case over to the grand jury for review. However, as that matter was being deliberated, her landlord came to the conclusion they wanted Wallace to leave and served her an eviction notice, the report says. The problem was that Wallace had a firearm while living in government-subsidized housing. However, she hired a pro-bono attorney who helped her keep the rental home.
In reaction to the jury’s decision not to charge her criminally in the crime, Wallace said she was eternally grateful.
“I feel great that they were able to see it through my eyes,” Wallace told FOX 4. “I want to offer my condolences to his family and thank everyone who helped me and my girls.”
Since the incident, Wallace moved herself and her children to another part of the county.