7-year-old witnessed his father shot to death outside west Fort Worth apartments
.jpg "Police on Wednesday arrested on suspicion of murder a suspect in the killing of a man who in the parking lot of an apartment complex in west Fort Worth was shot to death in front of his 7-year-old son.")
Police have arrested a suspect in the April 21 shooting of a man who was killed in front of the victim’s 7-year-old son in a west Fort Worth apartment parking lot.
The suspect, Javier Jones, had argued with Earl Bolden before each left the apartment complex and then returned, a witness told Fort Worth police.
Jones, who is 25, emerged from a darkened breezeway, walked up to Bolden and shot him after he got out of a vehicle, police allege. Bolden’s son stood next to his father as he was shot, homicide unit detective Matt Anderson wrote in an affidavit supporting Jones’ arrest warrant for murder.
The killing was also witnessed by a woman who was in a vehicle with Bolden immediately before he was shot multiple times, according to the affidavit. The shooting was recorded by a city surveillance camera.
Bolden, 48, was shot at the Buena Vista Apartments in the 3100 block of Sappington Place, along Lackland Road near North Z Boaz Park. He died at John Peter Smith Hospital about an hour after he was shot.
As he was fired upon, Bolden tried to pull out a gun, according a witness, who was not certain whether Bolden returned fire.
The shooter ran from the parking lot after the shooting.
The witness identified Jones from a collection of photos that police refer to as a six-pack. The spread contained Jones’ image among the images of six people who look similar, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
The affidavit does not say whether police have located any involved guns. The document also does not describe the nature of the argument.
Jones is associated with a Ford Expedition and a license plate that was captured within a block of the shooting by a plate reader on a patrol vehicle that was responding to the shooting, according to the affidavit.
This story was originally published April 24, 2025 at 3:32 PM.
