Police: Gunman cried after killing Forest Hill minister

A Fort Worth man opened fired and killed a local minister while the two were in a car in September because the minister touched him sexually, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in the case.

Gary Ervin, 37, shot Taifiq “Tai” Forney, 36, of Forest Hill, four times on Sept. 20 as the two sat in Forney’s 2010 Hyundai Sonata just west of a church, according to the affidavit obtained by the Star-Telegram on Wednesday.

Ervin was arrested earlier this month in Fort Worth and has been charged with murder.

Several witnesses told police that they saw Ervin upset and crying in a park shortly after the shooting. He told several witnesses that he shot Forney because the victim touched him sexually, according to the affidavit.

“I don’t believe that at all,” said Natasha Forney, the minister’s wife, on Wednesday. She declined to make any additional comments.

Shortly after the shooting, one witness told police that she saw Ervin, who goes by the street name “Hound Dog,” upset, and when she asked him if he was OK, he replied, “I bet he won’t do that anymore,” referring to the minister.

The witness also saw Ervin wiping off a black semi-automatic pistol police say is consistent with the weapon used to kill Forney, according to the affidavit.

Fort Worth’s fugitive unit arrested Ervin on Dec. 8 at his sister’s home in Fort Worth. Officers advised Ervin of his felony warrant and placed him under arrest without incident.

Forney was found in his car shortly before 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 20 in the 5300 block of Kutman Court in Fort Worth. He was pronounced dead at 8:10 a.m. at John Peter Smith Hospital.

Forney, a minister with a passion for helping the homeless, suffered gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen.

In a September interview with the Star-Telegram, Natasha Forney said her husband was home at 5 a.m. on Sept. 20 but wasn’t there a few hours later.

Tai Forney moved to Fort Worth about three years ago from Roanoke, Va., relatives said. He had worked for the Everman school district, at a UPS warehouse and at Applebee’s in Arlington, his wife said.

He volunteered with the Tarrant Area Food Bank’s mobile food pantry in the Stop Six neighborhood of southeast Fort Worth. He also volunteered and ministered at the Union Gospel Mission and the Salvation Army on East Lancaster Avenue.

Ervin has been charged with eight crimes since 1996, according to Tarrant County criminal court records. The charges range from theft to drug possession. He was sentenced to five years in prison for a robbery in Fort Worth in 1998. He was last arrested in 2012, charged with criminal trespass in Arlington and was sentenced to a day in jail, according to court records.

Ervin remained in the Tarrant County Jail Wednesday with bail set at $250,000.

This report contains information from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 1:41 PM with the headline "Police: Gunman cried after killing Forest Hill minister."