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A man charged with fatally shooting a 17-year-old boy in July after an Astros game has been released on bond, according to an ABC 13 report.
Gerald Wayne Williams, 34, was released from jail on Sept. 24 after posting a $350,000 bail and now awaits trial.
"When I saw that on my caller ID, I pulled over," the victim's father Paul Castro, stated. "I didn't trust myself to be driving in the moment, and my stomach fell through, all the way down. My heart clenched. All I can think of is he's loose. He's on the streets in our community,"
Williams was charged with murder after police say he followed the family onto I-10 and fired multiple times into their vehicle after he and Castro exchanged hand gestures, according to a Houston Daily report.
Prosecutors had submitted a request to reject bond based on Williams' prior convictions for two counts of aggravated robbery with a dangerous weapon, for which he spent 12 years before being freed in February 2020.
Judge Marc Brown, however, set Williams' bail at $350,000 on Aug. 6.
"The broken system allowed that man to make bond," Castro stated.
Williams' bail terms require him to be electronically monitored within two calendar days after his release, after which he must remain under 24-hour house arrest.
"He doesn't have an ankle monitor right now. He's on his own promise that he's going to stay in his home," Castro said. "He can be anywhere. I don't know how. But what I do know is a person, who has two armed robberies and is accused of killing my son, that person is out on the streets because our system isn't set up to protect us from him."
Castro, who argues that a "simple policy change" would enable police to continue monitoring Williams even after he posted bond, is urging the community to assist his family in taking action and changing the way certain suspects' bail is set.