Man Fort Worth police allege was driver is charged with murder in La Gran Plaza killing
The man who police allege was the driver of an SUV from which another person stepped with a rifle and opened fire upon a crowd outside La Gran Plaza shopping mall in Fort Worth, killing an observer whom the gunman did not intend to shoot, was on Wednesday charged with murder.
Deandre Clark, 28, drove a black Dodge Durango in which Xavier Evans was a passenger, according to Fort Worth police. Evans left the SUV through a rear door and fired projectiles in 7.62x39 cartridge casings in the October fatal shooting, police allege.
Police redacted the name of the person who detectives allege was Evans’ target from arrest warrant affidavits that were released to the Star-Telegram.
Killed instead was 41-year-old Diago Jones. Another person was shot and survived. A third person was hit by flying debris. None of them was a target.
In interviews with Homicide Unit Detective Jeffrey Jensen, Clark implied that Evans was the shooter early on the morning of Oct. 12, 2024, at the La Gran Plaza scene, according to affidavits Jensen wrote supporting the arrests of both suspects. Evans said in an interview with Detective Jensen that he was outside Club LV during the fight that led to the shooting, but he did not admit firing the shots and ended the interview.
Evans, 20, was arrested in November and indicted last week on a murder charge. As of Feb. 12, Evans was an inmate in the Tarrant County Jail with a bond set at $250,000.
Clark, 28, was arrested on Thursday and is in custody in Harris County.
Beyond Clark, at least three other people were in the SUV at the time Jones was shot, according to the affidavits. Clark and Evans are the only people police have arrested in the case.
The shooting happened after an unnamed person involved in a fight the night of Oct. 11 following a football game at Herman Clark Stadium left and went to Club LV at La Gran Plaza, according to the redacted arrest warrant affidavits. Fort Worth’s Dunbar High School played Benbrook High that night at the stadium.
The unnamed person walked out of the nightclub and fought with some of the same people he fought after the football game, police said. He was with a large group of people at the back of the parking lot when the shots were fired.
Clark told police that he was involved in the fight at Club LV, and that he drove around afterward and picked up several people. He told police that one of his passengers got out of the SUV and fired shots, according to the affidavit.
In a second interview, Clark acknowledged to Jensen that a person known as “Chopper” was in the back seat, got out and began shooting. When a detective showed Clark a photo of Evans, Clark identified him as “Chopper,” according to the affidavit.
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 4:29 PM.
