Ft. Worth Police Seeking Suspects Who Fatally Shot Young Man While Mom Reportedly Begged Them to Stop

The 21-year-old victim was killed in front of his mother outside of a restaurant

The Fort Worth Police Department is seeking information that could lead to the arrest of those responsible for the death of a 21-year-old man.

Dallas news stations WFAA and FOX4 identified the victim as Texas resident Damarreon Barnett.

Barnett's aunt Ebony Avery told WFAA last Wednesday that her nephew and his mother were at Los Aibertos Mexican Restaurant when the young man got into a verbal altercation with three individuals.

When one of the three men reached for a firearm and began shooting, Avery said her nephew’s mother did her best to intervene.

“She begged the guy. She said, ‘Stop shooting.’ She said, ‘Don’t shoot him, he’s sick,’” Avery told the ABC affiliate.

Avery added that despite the pleas, the person “shot him again.”

The incident happened at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the Fort Worth Police Department confirmed in a press release. Officers had responded to the 6700 block of Bridge St. to investigate a reported shooting.

Police said that upon arrival, they found an adult male with gunshot wounds to his torso. The officers rendered aid to the victim and he was transported to a local hospital where he died.

Detectives said that after the argument at the restaurant on the 6700 block of Bridge Street, “one of the suspects produced a weapon and fired multiple rounds striking the victim at least one time.”

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By the time authorities arrived, the three suspects had fled the scene.

Avery said after the death of her own son in late January from sickle cell complications, this is an extremely difficult time for their family.

“We buried my son Jan. 27, and now we gotta bury my nephew,” she said. “We’re hurt. We’re in disbelief.”

WFAA also spoke with a restaurant employee who was at work the day of the fatal shooting. The woman said that she and her coworkers had heard the gunshots as they rang out outside of the establishment.

“We got so scared. We just locked the doors and we just called the police, and I see the neighbors. They do the same thing, too,” the woman said.

The police department said that the Homicide Unit is pursuing several leads in this ongoing investigation.

Detectives are asking anyone with video or other information about this incident to call the Fort Worth Police non-emergency line at 817-392-4222. Tipsters can remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers of Tarrant County at (817) 469-8477.

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