HOUSTON – On the third day of testimony in the manslaughter trial of Tony Earls, jurors were shown the gun investigators say killed 9-year-old Arlene Alvarez and heard hours of detailed testimony from firearm, forensic, and digital experts as both sides try to answer a central question: was Tony Earls firing at a fleeing robber or shooting recklessly?

Tony Earls is charged with manslaughter after a bullet he fired struck and killed Arlene Alvarez in February 2022. The Alvarez family was driving past a bank drive-thru when Earls opened fire after he and his wife were held at gunpoint during a robbery. One of those shots hit the child, who was in the backseat of her family’s truck.

Earls, and his attorneys, maintain he believed he was firing at the fleeing robber. Prosecutors argue he was

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