A man was arrested in Louisiana on Wednesday, January 11 and charged with the murder of an elementary school teacher in Texas. She was found in her backyard with multiple gunshot wounds.

Charvas Thompson was arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana on January 11, over 260 miles from the crime scene in Texas, for the murder of the teacher, Wendy Duan, 28.

Sugar Land Police Department report that Thompson was arrested after detectives gathered enough evidence to identify him as the shooting suspect. The department worked with the Gulf Coast Violent Offender Task Force and Louisiana police to take the suspect into custody. Police suspect that he had been in Louisiana for two days before his arrest.

Wendy Duan was an elementary school teacher with the Alief Independent School District. She was discovered dead with multiple gunshot wounds outside her home on Oxford Mills Lane in Sugar Land, Houston, on Saturday, January 7.

Police believe she was shot dead during a domestic argument. They knew who the suspect was and were searching for him.

Thompson and Duan met a week before she was killed on the “Meet Me” dating app.

Mark Poland, Sugar Land Police Chief, urged the public to stay vigilant when meeting strangers on dating apps. He advised that people take extra precautions, such as letting family and friends know where they are going and who they are meeting with. He also reminded people it is safer to meet strangers in a public place.

According to witnesses, the crime occurred at around 10 pm on Saturday night. The couple was heard arguing in the house, and the argument moved to the backyard. Shots rang out shortly after they went outside.

Neighbors called 911 and responding officers found Duan dead in her backyard. Thompson had fled the scene.

Detectives identified Thompson after reviewing surveillance videos, talking to witnesses, and identifying his car from cameras in the area.

An arrest warrant for Thompson was issued early Sunday morning, and he was charged with murder. His bail was set at $500,000.

According to Sergeant Matt Levan with the Sugar Land Police, Thompson will be extradited from Louisiana back to Texas. The extradition process could take weeks, according to the sergeant.

Thompson has a criminal record dating back to 2018 when he was charged with theft in Harris County, a drug charge in Montgomery County, and a 2022 misdemeanor in Harris County for domestic violence.

Duan was a language arts teacher in the third grade at Boone Elementary School. The district released a statement expressing its sadness over her tragic passing. She had been working at the school since 2017.