Man charged with murder in Fort Worth hit-and-run death following argument
A Fort Worth man faces a murder charge after police said he purposely ran over a man with his car after an argument on July 5.
Fort Worth police arrested Kurtis King, 34, in the death of Ellis Latavion Laron Smith, 35. Officers were called to the 2400 block of Meacham Blvd. the night of July 5 to find Smith critically injured. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled his death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma, according to the medical examiner’s website.
Police said Smith and King got into an argument over a previous business transaction and each pulled out knives to threaten each other. King then got into his car, drove toward Smith and hit him with the vehicle, according to authorities.
King fled the scene, according to police. He was arrested and booked into the Fort Worth City Jail on Monday.
Ellis Smith recently moved to Texas with his wife, Shakavian Smith, from Georgia, according to a GoFundMe set up by Shakavian Smith. The fundraiser was set up to help raise money for funeral and other expenses.
The couple hadn’t had time to make friends and their families are back in Georgia, Shakavian Smith wrote in the description of the GoFundMe. They moved to Texas for a fresh start.
“We have been struggling financially due to my enrollment in nursing school, which we paid for out-of-pocket, in addition to our regular bills,” Shakavian Smith wrote.
They canceled their life insurance policies to help save costs, “thinking we had more time,” she said.
Shakavian Smith said she got the call that her husband had been hit by a car and went to the hospital, where she spent four hours thinking he was in stable condition. She said authorities told her they couldn’t share any information about what happened because of an ongoing investigation and that she still hadn’t seen her husband’s body.
Ellis Smith was a father to nine children, four of them his own and five who are his wife’s, according to the GoFundMe.
Police said they cannot yet release any other details about the homicide due to an ongoing investigation.
This story was originally published July 8, 2024 at 8:48 PM.