HOUSTON - On what seemed like an average day at HISD's Lee High School, the buzz in the hallways centered on the two classmates arrested and charged with capital murder.
"I don’t believe it," said one high school senior. "I can't believe it."
Yet, Danish Minhas and Nur Mohamed are jailed and due in court Thursday morning for the murder of 43-year-old Tabassum Khan. Khan was Minhas's mother.
"Nur Mohamed confessed to stabbing Khan several dozen times," said Sgt. Brian Harris of the Houston Police Department.
According to police, Mohamed is a Somalian-born student who was recently caught with drugs on campus. His friendship with Minhas, a Pakistani-born senior who made good grades and worked in Lee High School's administrative office, blossomed in Spanish class.
On the surface, they seemed like an odd match. Classmates knew Mohamed as the guy who brought drugs to school. They knew Minhas as the guy who made the morning announcements over the campus intercom.
Even the Houston police knew of Minhas. On the day his mother was killed, Minhas was supposed to report to HPD Headquarters to interview for an internship. It would have been his second interview for the spot.
"Danish Minhas was in the law enforcement community," said Harris. "He received several leadership awards."
But according to police, Minhas confessed to recruiting Mohamed to kill his mother. Police found her dead in her apartment back in November.
The motive?
Investigators say Minhas simply didn't want to follow her house rules.
"These were not unusual restrictions- curfew, be home at night, stay off the freeway- very simple rules any parent that's responsible would ask their child to do," said Harris.
