Fort Worth man gets life in prison for killing 74-year-old uncle who tried to help him
A Tarrant County jury sentenced a Fort Worth man to life in prison on Tuesday afternoon for killing his 74-year-old uncle in 2019 just outside of a Fort Worth business.
Last week, jurors found 33-year-old Martin Wilson guilty of murder in the shooting death of James Wilson Sr. of Forest Hill on June 3, 2019.
According to family members and friends, Martin Wilson was James Wilson Sr.’s nephew, and the elder Wilson was trying to help the younger man by giving him a place to stay in his Fort Worth welding shop so that he would not be homeless.
“My father was a good dude who looked out for everyone. He would never say ‘no’ to anyone,” Wilson’s son, James Wilson Jr., told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram just after the fatal shooting.
The shooting occurred at about 2:40 p.m. on June 3, 2019, outside James Wilson Sr.’s welding shop in the 2500 block of East Maddox Avenue, police reported.
James Wilson Sr. was sitting in his truck outside his business when he was shot, according to police.
He was pronounced dead from multiple gunshot wounds at John Peter Smith Hospital, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Martin Wilson fled the scene, but he was arrested a few days later.
The son said that his father was about to evict Martin Wilson from the welding shop, and that precipitated the fatal shooting.
James Wilson Jr. said that he and others had talked to his father about leaving Martin Wilson alone and said that the nephew was going to cause him trouble. The son said he believed Martin Wilson was a danger to the community.
“He doesn’t need to be around anyone,” James Wilson Jr. said. ”He killed the only person who was trying to help him.”
James Wilson Jr. even searched for the murder suspect after his father was killed.
Three days after his father was shot to death, James Wilson Jr. found his cousin Martin in the 2800 block of Burchill Road, and opened fire, according to an arrest warrant obtained by the Star-Telegram in 2019.
The shots he fired missed and within minutes Fort Worth police, who had been conducting surveillance of the house where the suspect was hiding, arrested both men.
Martin Wilson was taken into custody after also being fired upon by an officer who believed he was holding a gun while running toward police, according to a police news release. Police later determined the object Martin Wilson was holding was a cellphone.
Martin Wilson was not injured by the gunfire.
James Wilson Jr. was sentenced to three years’ probation for shooting at his cousin, according to Tarrant County criminal court records.
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 7:23 PM.
