‘I had to think about my babies.’ Woman tells FOX 4 she shot 14-year-old to protect family

The woman who fatally shot a 14-year-old boy outside her south Fort Worth duplex said she saw him opening a bedroom window and she fired to protect her daughters.

Aleah Wallace told KDFW-TV in an exclusive interview that she was “devastated” to learn the teen’s age.

“I didn’t know he was 14 when he was on the other side of that window,” Wallace said in the interview with FOX 4. “All I knew was that somebody could come in and hurt me or my kids.”

Officers were dispatched to the Peppertree Acres Apartments in the 5200 block of Southcrest Court early on the morning of Dec. 14 after Wallace reported a prowler. When officers arrived, she told them the person had left the area, police have said.

Wallace called again shortly before 3 a.m. to report the person had come back and was attempting to enter her home. When they returned to the scene, officers found the teenager on the ground in the front yard with at least one gunshot wound to his torso, according to police.

Family members identified the 14-year-old as Devin Baker, an eighth-grade student at Rosemont Middle School. His family also lives in the Peppertree Acres Apartments. Devin died at the scene. According to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, he was pronounced dead from multiple gunshot wounds at 2:53 a.m.

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Wallace told KDFW that she got a gun to protect her family after some recent break-ins at her rental home. The Star-Telegram has not been able to reach her for comment.

Online police reports show officers responded to her home for a criminal mischief call on Nov. 29. Police found a window had been vandalized or damaged.

Officers also responded to a burglary call at Wallace’s address on the night of Dec. 12, a little more than 24 hours before the shooting. Several Nike Air Jordan shoes are listed as the items stolen in the burglary, according to the police report. No arrests were reported in either of those previous incidents.

No one was home when those burglaries took place, but Wallace, 25, was alone in the house with her four young daughters on Dec. 14 when somebody tried to get in again, KDFW reported. She called 911, but the prowler was gone when officers arrived. A short time later, Wallace was sweeping her living room floor when she heard a window being opened, she said.

“I stood in the hallway, and I could see him standing at the window, lifting it up,” Wallace told KDFW. “I just shot.”

The gunfire fatally struck Devin, who Wallace said was outside the bedroom window of her 8-year-old daughter, KDFW reported.

The Star-Telegram asked Fort Worth police if their investigation found evidence that confirmed the teen was trying to break into Wallace’s home, but was told there was no new information and the case is still under investigation. Authorities haven’t filed charges against Wallace and the case is expected to be sent to a grand jury when the investigation is complete.

Latoiya Landers, Devin’s mother, told the Star-Telegram he was a fun-loving boy who had dreams of starting a clothing line with art he’d created. He made good grades in school and was excited about joining the basketball team, she said. He’d just recently had his physical done.

“He used to tell me, ‘Mamma, watch. I’m going to make something of myself,’” Landers said. “I told him, ‘Yes you are, but you’re going to stay in school, too.’”

Durwyn Lamb, a martial arts instructor and youth mentor, said he spoke with a group of Rosemont Middle School students, including Devin, two weeks before the teen’s death. Lamb was getting ready to go back to Rosemont on Dec. 14 when he got a message from Devin’s teacher saying that he’d been killed. Later, he learned the woman who shot Devin had reported he attempted to break into her home.

“Tragic,” Lamb said. “You know, young man 14 years old, and I seen something in him. I seen myself in him actually, and I just thought, man, he had something good about him that I could tell, it’s just misguided. And it’s just sad he lost his life that way.”

Wallace told KDFW that she wants people to know she was protecting her children.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “But at that point, I had to think about my babies.”

Wallace is now being evicted from her duplex for having a gun, KDFW reported. She was told she has 30 days to vacate the premises, and she’s worried the eviction will make it harder to find other housing.

“I feel like I’m back at square one,” she said to KDFW. “I was there for six years, and now I don’t know what to do.”