2 suspects in fatal Thanksgiving shooting in Fort Worth were part of robbery group: police
Two suspects in a fatal Thanksgiving night shooting were part of a group who planned to rob the victim at gunpoint, Fort Worth police said.
Paige Wheaton, 20, and Tai Sanders, 17, have been charged with capital murder. They are accused of killing J Tavian Lee Howard.
Officers responded to reported gunshots at the Broadmoor apartments in the 2800 block of Broadmoor Drive the night of Nov. 28. They found three men with gunshot wounds, including Howard.
Investigators obtained footage of the shooting from city cameras in the area, according to Sanders’ arrest warrant affidavit. Howard can be seen parking his vehicle along the curb next to the apartment complex. Two men rush toward the vehicle, one toward the passenger side and the other toward the driver’s side.
A woman gets out of the vehicle and runs away. She is picked up by a silver Chrysler 200 with a temporary tag, the affidavit states. A shootout takes place between Howard and the two men, and all three are hit.
Howard, 23, died at a hospital. One of the two men who rushed the car, Javon Gayton, died at the scene, according to police. The third man was critically wounded.
After reviewing the video evidence, investigators believe that Gayton and the other man were trying to rob Howard. They noticed that the two men didn’t pay any attention to the woman who exited Howard’s vehicle, indicating she may have been in on the robbery scheme, the affidavit states.
Detectives received a tip from Gayton’s mother, who said a woman named Paige had told her that she’d driven Gayton and the other man to the apartment complex. She gave Paige’s phone number to police.
The investigators learned the phone number belonged to Paige Wheaton and were able to look up her address. They found a silver Chrysler 200 parked in her driveway, and Wheaton and Tai Sanders were inside.
Wheaton admitted to picking up Sanders when she was running away but refused to be interviewed, according to the affidavit.
Sanders initially told police she was somewhere else during the shooting, but eventually said she’d spent Thanksgiving with Wheaton, Gayton and the other man. All of them got into Wheaton’s car and drove to the Broadmoor apartments.
According to Sanders, she met up with a man named “T” at a nearby store to smoke, and he took her to the apartment complex. She saw men she didn’t know come toward the vehicle with guns, so she ran away, the affidavit states. Later she admitted that Wheaton picked her up.
When investigators asked if she communicated with anyone while in the vehicle, she said she was texting on a group thread but didn’t share details.
Police seized Sanders’ phone and were able to get a search warrant for a forensic analysis. Around the time of the shooting, Sanders was texting with Wheaton, according to the affidavit. She told Wheaton that Howard had a gun and what color of vehicle they were in. She also shared her location.
Wheaton replied to Sanders that the two men were on the way. Based on the evidence found on Sanders’ phone, investigators believe she and Wheaton were complicit in the robbery that led to Howard’s death, the affidavit states.
Wheaton and Sanders remain in the Tarrant County Jail after their arrest earlier this month.
It’s not clear if the man who was critically wounded during the alleged robbery attempt will also face charges.
