He kept saying ‘I’m sorry’: Friend arrested in gunplay death of Fort Worth teen
On an afternoon a few days before Christmas, three teenage friends were hanging out inside a bedroom in a house near the Candleridge neighborhood of southwest Fort Worth.
Justin Wells, 17, and Ricardo Acevedo, 15, were playing with two guns — an AR pistol and a Taurus 9mm pistol with a laser, according to an arrest warrant affidavit that contains Wells’ description of his handling of one of the guns and an account of a police investigation. A third friend was sleeping in the room.
Wells explained to two Fort Worth Police Department detectives that he was sitting on a bed with the AR pistol and Acevedo, who was known as Ricky, was standing a couple of feet in front of him.
Wells was racking the gun without a magazine in it to be sure it was empty.
He felt like it was dirty.
He slid his finger along the side of the gun and saw a black substance on his finger.
Wells pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
“He then placed the magazine back into to the gun and it went off striking Ricky as he was standing several feet in front of him,” Detective Leah Dickerson wrote in the affidavit.
A bullet entered Acevedo’s chest.
Wells told Detective Dickerson and Detective Tom O’Brien that Acevedo was up moving around and that Wells was trying to get him to calm down. Wells told Acevedo that he was going to be OK. He used a rag to apply pressure to where his friend was bleeding.
Acevedo died before he reached a hospital.
The detectives concluded that Wells was reckless in handling a loaded gun pointed in the direction of Acevedo and on Tuesday arrested Wells on suspicion of manslaughter. He was being held Thursday at the Tarrant County Jail with a bond of $75,000.
Wells told the detectives that the guns were Acevedo’s and that Wells and Acevedo brought the guns to the house, in the 7400 block of Snow Ridge Drive, the day before the Dec. 22 shooting.
Wells said he left the gun on the bed and ran to a park after the shooting. Detective O’Brien later recovered it at the Snow Ridge Drive house.
The detectives also interviewed a person who lives at the house who said he was inside the upstairs bathroom at the time Acevedo was shot. The name of the person, who is a friend of Wells and Acevedo, is redacted in the affidavit.
When he left the bathroom, the witness saw Acevedo falling backward near the bedroom doorway, holding his chest.
He saw Wells standing in front of Acevedo and holding a black gun.
Wells tried to help Acevedo, the witness told police.
He kept saying, “I’m sorry.”
Acevedo was described in an online obituary as “a beloved son, brother, grandson, and friend whose presence brought light, love, and meaning to the lives of all who knew him.”
“His smile, gentle spirit, and kind heart left a lasting impression that will never be forgotten,” his relatives wrote in the obituary. “Though his time on earth was far too short, the love he shared and the memories he created will live on forever in the hearts of his family and friends.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 12:45 PM.
