Murder suspect posed as woman online to lure and rob victim, North Texas cops say
A 29-year-old suspect who posed as a woman online to lure a North Texas man into a deadly robbery in April 2020 has been arrested, Arlington police said.
Eugene Johnson, 32, was shot and killed during the robbery attempt at an apartment complex in the 800 block of North Oak Street in Arlington, police said in a news release on Monday.
The suspect accused in the killing, Mekel Gaston, was arrested on Friday, May 16, by members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force, police said.
Gaston faces a capital murder charge and is being held in the Tarrant County Jail with bond set at $1 million.
Suspect lured victim after meeting online, cops say
On April 28, 2020, officers responded to the apartment complex about 5 a.m., after a resident reported seeing a man lying unresponsive in the parking lot, Arlington police said.
When officers arrived, they found that Johnson had been shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Homicide detectives learned that Johnson came to the apartments thinking he was going to be meeting a woman he communicated with via text. Instead, an armed man approached the victim, pointed a gun at him, and demanded money, police allege.
Police said after fight between the two, Gaston ultimately shot Johnson.
Detectives also learned that multiple similar armed robberies had been reported at the same apartment complex, leading them to believe the cases might be connected, according to the release.
A key witness who had not previously spoken to detectives provided them with critical information linking Gaston to the previous armed robberies and to the fatal shooting, police said.
The detectives also compared video footage from the shooting to images of a separate incident that was known to involve Gaston and noted the physical similarities between him and the shooting suspect, police said.
Police said Gaston posed as a woman online to lure Johnson to the scene with the intent to rob him.
“Thanks to the outstanding efforts of our detectives, a dangerous and violent criminal is off our streets,” Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said in the release. “This was a situation where good police work was done during the initial investigation, but detectives needed that last bit of additional evidence to file charges. I’m extremely proud of them for continuing to pursue leads until they got the information they needed.”
Gaston was also arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant and faces an additional charge of assault causing bodily injury with a bond set at $1,500.