North Texas murder suspect shot man after threatening victim’s girlfriend, warrant says
A Fort Worth man charged with murder in Grand Prairie had been threatening the victim’s girlfriend prior to the killing, according to an arrest warrant affidavit released by Grand Prairie police.
Zahrek Patton, 20, was arrested on Oct. 1 after police reviewed security footage from a Super 8 motel in response to a report of a man with a gunshot wound at the location, according to the affidavit obtained by the Star-Telegram.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office has since identified the victim as 22-year-old Tyree Pitts, of Arlington. He died the night of Oct. 1 at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.
The victim’s girlfriend told officers that she didn’t see who shot Pitts, but believed it was Patton, the affidavit says.
Patton was a previous boyfriend of hers, the victim’s girlfriend said, and he sent her threatening text messages on the day of the shooting and had recently put a gun to her head, according to the affidavit.
Security footage showed Patton running away from the motel on East Palace Parkway, crawling through a hole in a nearby fence, and fleeing into an apartment complex, according to police.
Patton later called an Uber to pick him up from the complex, according to the affidavit.
Police stopped a black Lexus SUV as it was exiting the complex’s parking lot, and Patton was in the back seat, officers said.
Patton admitted to having ecstasy pills in his pocket, and was arrested on possession of a controlled substance prior to being charged with murder, according to the affidavit. He had blood on his pants when he was arrested, police said.
Police later reviewed additional security video that they believe shows the suspect pointing a pistol at the victim and forcing him to walk down a hallway before hitting him in the head with the gun and shooting him, the affidavit states.
The gun, the suspect’s jacket and shoes seen in the video, and a Jack in the Box name tag with the suspect’s first name on it were found inside a backpack that was discarded in a trash can at the motel, according to the court document.
