Two men arrested in connection with fatal shooting of rapper outside Fort Worth club
Two cousins have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a rapper outside a Fort Worth nightclub in December.
Jamie Deshawn Harris, 27, and Bobby Lee Dow, 26, were arrested Tuesday on felony murder warrants.
They are not accused of actually shooting 43-year-old Manuel Brown, but of causing his death by firing a gun from a moving vehicle while trying to flee from the commission or attempted commission of a felony — aggravated assault.
The shooting occurred around 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 9 as Brown stood near his BMW, parked alongside a curb near Club New Start, 4505 Miller Ave.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the shooting had apparently been sparked by an argument that started in the club and involved several people, including Brown.
“Everyone involved then went outside where the argument continued and escalated into a shooting,” homicide Detective J. Cedillo stated in the affidavit. “After the shooting, Manuel stumbled into the club and stated he had been shot.”
Brown, a rapper who was known for helping the community, was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the chest.
Investigators determined a separate but related drive-by shooting occurred a short time later in the 4400 block of South Edgewood Terrace in which Dow’s father was shot three times. Harris returned fire with a .45 caliber gun in that shooting, the affidavit states.
When interviewed by Cedillo, Harris denied being at Club New Start or being involved in Brown’s shooting.
But surveillance video from the club showed Harris had been at the club and been among those involved in a disturbance with Brown inside the club, the affidavit states. Detectives also were able to determine that Dow had been at the club with Harris.
In a Dec. 19 interview with Cedillo and homicide Detective E. Pate, Dow acknowledged being involved in the disturbance with Brown, Harris and others inside the club. He told the detectives that after the group had moved outside, someone fired a gun, and the crowd dispersed.
Dow told investigators that he had handed Harris a gun as they got in his Chevrolet pickup to leave. As Dow drove off, Harris fired the gun from the passenger window because they were being shot at, Dow told investigators.
Dow said he dropped his truck off at another location. He, Harris and two others were later sitting inside a Ford Crown Victoria outside his grandmother’s house on South Edgewood Terrace when someone shot at the residence, the affidavit states.
Dow’s father, who had stepped outside the house to see who was shooting, was hit three times in the gunfire. He survived his injuries, police say.
Harris returned fire with a .45-caliber gun. Police confiscated his gun and shell casings as part of their investigation.
Harris agreed to be interviewed a second time on Dec. 20. This time, he admitted to being involved in the disturbance at the club with Manuel and firing a .45 caliber gun that his cousin had handed him through the passenger window, the affidavit states.
But Harris told detectives he had fired in the opposite direction of where Brown was standing because several individuals were in the parking lot with guns, the affidavit states.
Police had found a number of .45 caliber casings near the front of the club and around Manuel’s BMW. Also found near the car were multiple 9mm casings and a .40-caliber casing, the affidavit states.
Ballistics tests later showed a projectile recovered from the rear quarter of Brown’s BMW had been fired from the same .45-caliber gun taken from Harris, the affidavit states.
Cedillo wrote that based on the evidence obtained in the investigation, he believes the two cousins’ actions resulted in Brown’s death.
Tarrant County court records show Dow was placed on five years deferred adjudication probation on Jan. 22 after pleading guilty in an unrelated case to injury to an elderly person.
This story was originally published February 5, 2019 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Two men arrested in connection with fatal shooting of rapper outside Fort Worth club."
