A Houston man pleaded guilty on the eve of trial and was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison for fatally shooting a man in 2019, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“Gun violence in Houston has reached epidemic levels, and it is because people think it is okay to start shooting when they have a minor disagreement,” Ogg said. “We were able to get justice for the family of this promising young man, but there was absolutely no reason he had to lose his life to gun violence.”

Dashadd McNeil, 30, pleaded guilty to murder in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence for killing 25-year-old Juston Allen Walker at Coventry Square Apartments near Bissonnet on October 5, 2019.

Walker and another man were hanging out in the parking lot of the complex late at night and caught the attention of McNeil, who knew Walker from the neighborhood. As the victim walked from the parking lot into the complex, McNeil followed him and shot him in the back several times.

Investigators with the Houston Police Department were able to determine that McNeil was responsible for the shooting by speaking to witnesses and reviewing surveillance video.

Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Marshall, a chief in the DA’s trial bureau, was preparing to pick a jury on the case when McNeil opted to take a plea.

“This was a senseless shooting,” Marshall said. “Our victim had such a beautiful life, and this defendant took it from him.”

Marshall noted that members of Walker’s family gave victim impact statements at the sentencing Friday. They said he was a well-known jokester with a good sense of humor and an engaging personality.

“He was a real character and a very forgiving person,” Marshall said. “He always had jokes.”