Grand jury to determine if homeowner will face any charges in Saginaw homicide
A grand jury will review the early Monday shooting death of 21-year-old Andrew Russell in Saginaw, according to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.
Russell was shot on the walkway at the front of a house in the 600 block of Babbling Brook Drive by its resident, according to police and the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Russell’s mother, Cynthia Williams, has said he was likely in an altered mental state after a seizure and was wandering the neighborhood looking for help. She is calling for the shooter to be prosecuted.
The name of the shooter has not been released.
The homeowner woke Nov. 1 around 3:52 a.m. to a loud banging on his front door, police said he told them. In a public Facebook post and an interview with KDFW-TV, Russell’s mother said that the homeowner mishandled the situation when he fired on and killed her son.
Russell initially started leaving the property after the resident asked him to leave but then turned and rushed back toward him, the shooter told police. Police said the man fired multiple rounds at Russell as he retreated back into his home. Police arrived to find Russell dead, face down, on the front porch.
Williams said in an interview with KDFW-TV that her son had epilepsy and frequent seizures. He had previously wandered at night, she said.
“This was not justified. The homeowner could have secured himself in the home,” Williams said. “He could have called 911. They could have spoken to him through the door, through a Ring camera.”
Saginaw Police Department Assistant Chief Russell Ragsdale said Tuesday that there had been no indication in the investigation so far that Russell was seeking assistance for a medical problem before he was shot.
The shooting is still under investigation, but the district attorney’s office said it will present the case to the grand jury when the investigation is complete. The grand jury will decide what charges, if any, the man who fired the gun should face.
In an unrelated killing on Oct. 26, a 20-year-old man was shot by a resident at another Saginaw home during what police have described as a reported burglary.
A GoFundMe account was started to help with expenses for Russell’s funeral.
This story was originally published November 4, 2021 at 6:00 PM.