Arrest warrant in Jin Shin murder investigation shines light on new details of shooting
The arrest warrant for Quamon White, one of the three men charged with murder in the shooting death of Jin Shin in Fort Worth, contains new details on the events leading up to the August shooting.
White, 30, was arrested after police charged Kameron Taylor, 28, and Markynn Dmorous West, 30, with murder in 2022.
In arrest warrant affidavits for White and West, the latter of whom police said shot and killed Shin, detectives detailed how Shin was surrounded by eight people, punched in the head twice, tried to retreat from his accused assailants multiple times, was denied access to his Jeep and had his keys stolen from him.
This all happened after a minor traffic accident in which Shin’s Jeep rolled forward at a stoplight and struck the rear of another vehicle, according to police.
In the new warrant, detectives identified White as one of the two men who punched Shin in the head while he was surrounded by what the warrant describes as a “large mob.”
The keys to the Jeep were found on a lanyard around White’s neck after police arrived at the scene, according to the warrant for his arrest, in which police reference the video also used as evidence in the arrest of West. The video shows that at one point Shin grabbed his handgun from his Jeep but the warrant does not mention him aiming the firearm at anybody.
According to the arrest warrants, West retrieved a handgun from a white Chrysler 300 and used it to shoot Shin. Police emphasized that Shin did not retrieve his handgun until “he had been punched by two subjects, his car keys stolen, and mobbed by a large group of hostile individuals.”
Shin’s death has sparked outrage, especially in the North Texas Asian-American community where he was known as a leader, a mentor, a helper, a friend and a man who worked tirelessly to unite people across different backgrounds to celebrate and appreciate other cultures.
The chain of events
Police said in arrest warrants that Shin was involved in a vehicle accident around 2:20 a.m. Aug. 15, 2022, when his Jeep rolled forward and hit the rear of a silver Hyundai Elantra at 2500 University Drive. Shin exited his vehicle, as did the three women in the Hyundai. They started talking and Shin was boxed in at the door to his Jeep.
Over the next 15 minutes, five more people arrived at the scene in three different vehicles, surrounding Shin and alternating between pinning him against his Jeep and blocking him from accessing the vehicle, according to the warrants. At that point, two men got in Shin’s face while another blocked him from getting back to his vehicle. White was standing directly behind Shin when he drew back his right arm and punched Shin in the back of the head. Another man, whose name is redacted in White’s arrest warrant, punched Shin on the left side of his head.
Shin retreated after being punched, then tried to get back to the driver’s side of his Jeep. He was then approached by a man who got in his face and “denied him the ability to retreat into his vehicle after being attacked by the group,” according to the warrant. Shin then headed to the passenger side of the Jeep and opened the door as two other men were leaning into the vehicle from the driver’s side. One of the men took the keys from the vehicle as Shin retrieved a gun and then was again surrounded.
Shin managed to walk away from the now-eight people surrounding him with something in his hands, according to video referenced in the warrant. Immediately after he retreated, another man walked to the Chrysler 300 and got a handgun out of the trunk. West was identified as the man who got the gun, in the warrant for his arrest.
Shin walked across the street, then started walking back, this time approaching from the driver’s side, according to the warrant for White’s arrest. The handgun Shin held was pointed at the ground as he approached the rear of the Jeep, where West stepped into view with a handgun, also pointed at the ground. West fired multiple shots and Shin again attempted to retreat around to the passenger side.
West also moved to the passenger side, heading around the rear of the vehicles, according to the warrants. As West came around the vehicles, police said he raised his gun and aimed at Shin, firing multiple shots again. Shin ran across the street to the median and out of the view of the cameras, where police and paramedics found his body.
Shin, 43, of Dallas, was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner’s office ruled his cause of death as a gunshot wound to the torso.
This story was originally published January 7, 2023 at 4:20 PM.