Fort Worth man killed in crash regularly hung out at game room, girlfriend says
A 45-year-old Fort Worth resident, who was known for his ability to do and fix everything and his friendly smile, was killed after a man drove into a local game room, his girlfriend said. The suspect fled down the road, fatally striking a woman at a bus stop while trying to elude arrest Wednesday afternoon, according to police.
Jeff Mazurowski was always at the game room, located at 8751 Camp Bowie West Blvd., Mazurowski’s girlfriend, Tonya Franks, told the Star-Telegram in a phone interview Thursday. She said it was his second home — that if he wasn’t with her at their apartment, he was there, every single day.
The Taz game room’s environment was described as a place where everybody knew each other, Franks said. Mazurowski often hung out in the area, helping out inside, or fixing bikes outside or anything he could get his hands on.
“He did pretty much everything,” she said. “He did any side job, whatever he could do to make money. He did a lot of things for people. He could do anything.”
Mazurowski, originally from Massachusetts, moved to Texas and the Fort Worth area years ago with an ex-girlfriend, Franks said. The two met several years ago through a mutual friend, who Franks happened to be dating at the time. She said that it wasn’t until about three years ago the pair began hanging out more often, and that they’d been officially together for about a year.
Her favorite memories with Mazurowski were his “smiles, hugs and kisses,” she said.
“He was a really special person to me,” Franks said. “I have no bad memories. No bad memories whatsoever. He was a very, very, very good person. He was always smiling. He was real quiet. He didn’t say anything to anybody, not too much. He was just a really quiet guy, a real friendly guy who could be friends with and knew everybody.”
The two recently were planning a trip back to the Northeast to visit his family, “but now everything we planned is never going to happen,” she said.
Mazurowski ended up at his usual hangout spot Wednesday afternoon around 1 p.m., Franks said with her voice breaking. The two had gotten into an argument prior to his death.
“I wouldn’t let him come in and it’s tearing me up because I wouldn’t let him come in and I told him he had to leave, and 45 minutes later, the truck had run into the building and killed him,” Franks said. “It’s just really, really hard. Hardly ever, we argued. We never really argued or anything and this was probably just the second time we ever had words with each other.”
Employees of the Taz game room said that the victim and the suspect were both regular customers. One employee told the Star-Telegram on Thursday that he thinks the suspect targeted the business because he was looking for another man he was in a fight with a few days earlier.
Mazurowski was one of two people killed Wednesday.
Chassity L. Brooks, 38, of Arlington was arrested and faces a charge of capital murder of multiple persons. The police chase and deaths occurred after Brooks allegedly critically stabbed a man Wednesday morning at the Villas de Sonoma apartments, in the 8600 block of Las Vegas Court.
Later, Brooks made his way to the game room in the stabbing victim’s stolen pickup truck, crashing into its glass windows and driving back and forth multiple times, police said. Mazurowski was pinned between the vehicle and a wall. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
Brooks is also accused of fatally hitting a 57-year-old Fort Worth woman, Lailani Snell, who was waiting at a bus stop on Camp Bowie West. He then led police on a chase for several miles before he was cornered in a south Fort Worth neighborhood, near Misty Mountain Drive and Deer Trail, about 3 p.m., police said.
Police surrounded the truck with SWAT vehicles and used tear gas to get Brooks out and took him into custody.
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 2:45 PM.
