Watauga police identify murder suspect in shooting of 2 teens, ask for help finding him
Police in Watauga are asking 18-year-old Keiwone Leotis Morris to turn himself in, or for the public to help them locate him, after they said he killed two 17-year-old boys on March 12.
Police said at a news conference Friday evening that Morris should be considered armed and dangerous. He is wanted on two counts of capital murder.
Morris shot and killed the teenage boys in the area of 5400 Caribou Ridge Drive around 2 p.m. March 12, according to police. Investigators have managed to impound a car that matched the description given by witnesses who said they saw a vehicle leaving the scene. They said Morris also matches witness descriptions.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office identified one of the teens as Johnny Rojas, of Fort Worth, and a GoFundMe set up by the friends of the second victim identified him as Klodian Ramaj.
The GoFundMe had raised $4,900 of its $10,000 goal as of Friday at 8:30 p.m. Both victims lived on the same north Fort Worth street about two miles away from where the shooting happened and were students at Fossil Ridge High in the Keller school district, according to public records.
At the news conference Friday, Watauga Police Chief Robert Parker said the double homicide was a “senseless tragedy.”
Neighbors on the street where the shooting happened were shocked by the violence.
Patrick Symons, who has lived in the area for about five years, said he and his wife were getting ready to attend his sister’s wedding Saturday around 2 p.m. when his dogs began “going ballistic,” thinking someone was banging on their front door, just yards away from where the shooting occurred.
“There was a black sedan driving off. … It was a car we weren’t familiar with, and at first I was worried that it was my neighbor across the street, his kids, but it wasn’t because I know what they drive, but I was worried that somehow they got a ride or something,” Symons said. “There was like a black Chevy truck with its passenger doors opened and you could kind of see someone slumped down on the side and the car driving off.”
Symons had just gotten out of the shower when the shooting occurred. After seeing what happened outside, he registered that shots had been fired and he urged his wife to get back inside their home and call the police.
“I don’t think it was a slow response, but one of those things where it was like seconds feel a lot longer when you’re waiting [for the police] to show up,” Symons said. “We found out the next day it was two kids who go to the high school over here, and they’re not from the neighborhood, they just stopped here.”
Police said that while they are hoping Morris will turn himself in, they are working with partner agencies to try to find him. Police have recommended bail at $1 million for the combined capital murder charges.
If anyone has any information on this incident, they can contact Detective Sergeant D. Letart at 817-514-5787.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 9:03 PM.