An actor dubbed a “rising star” in his teens after his starring turn in the Oprah Winfrey Network’s “David Makes Man” in 2019 has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a 20-year-old Houston man.
Akili McDowell, now 21, was arrested last week in the death of Cesar Peralta, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said. Peralta was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds in a parking lot on July 20, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on Saturday.
Arrest update: @HCSOTexas Homicide Investigators charged Akili McDowell (21) with murder in the shooting death of Cesar Peralta (20). McDowell was recently taken into custody and booked into the Harris County Jail. The investigation is on-going
1/2— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) August 3, 2024
McDowell is being held on $400,000 bond and is expected to appear in court on Monday, KHOU reported.
According to Law&Crime, McDowell as out on bond on a theft charge at the time of the murder.
McDowell won the starring role in “David Makes Man” when he was 15, playing a “14-year-old prodigy from the projects who is haunted by the death of his closest friend and relied on by his hardworking mother to find a way out of poverty,” Deadline reported.
He also appeared in “Billions,” “The Astronaut Wives Club,” and the John Travolta movie “Criminal Activities.”
