Harris County man charged in repairman's murder in Atascocita home

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Jaime Michael Garcia was charged in the shooting death of repairman Christopher Walsh, 31, after deputies found Walsh dead inside a home on Crathie Drive in Atascocita. Garcia, 32, was booked into the Harris County Jail after the murder charge, deepening scrutiny of how a man already free on bond in prior violent cases was still at liberty before the killing.

Deputies were flagged down around 10:45 p.m. Thursday, July 2, after Walsh’s family became worried when he did not come home from work. Family members and his employer tracked Walsh’s work truck to the 12400 block of Crathie Drive in the Balmoral subdivision, east of Woodland Hills Drive, where Walsh had gone shortly after 3 p.m. to perform repair work.

Investigators said the home appeared to be vacant and was expected to be listed for sale. Deputies conducted a protective sweep and found no one else inside, and detectives reported no signs of forced entry during the initial response. A black sedan was seen leaving the residence, and investigators were still trying to identify the vehicle and its driver.

The motive remained unknown in the first public reports, and authorities had not said whether Walsh and Garcia knew each other. Click2Houston and KPRC 2 reported that Walsh was found dead with at least one gunshot wound. KHOU identified Garcia as Jaime Michael Garcia, born October 30, 1993, and said Walsh was born August 19, 1994.

The case has drawn attention in Harris County because Walsh was killed while on a routine work visit inside a home that investigators said may have been vacant, while Garcia was already out on bond for prior violent charges. The arrest leaves open the broader question of how a defendant with that history remained free before the shooting in the Balmoral neighborhood.