UPDATED: Police nab suspect in air rifle murder
Wichita Falls police have nabbed a suspect in the city's most recent homicide and learned the murder weapon may have been an air rifle.
Thursday morning, officers of the Patrol Section and Special Operations Unit tracked down and arrested 33-year-old Darren Jerome King on a murder charge in connection with the death of Deron Edward Royster on May 12.
King was being held Thursday in Wichita County Jail on a total bail of $772,501 for charges of murder, evading arrest and drug possession, according to online jail records.
Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Murder is punishable by up to life in prison.
Officers obtained an arrest warrant for King and found him in the 1600 block of Hamlin Avenue Thursday. After a foot pursuit, they located him hiding in a chicken coop and took him into custody.
Police had found Royster suffering from an eye injury in a yard in the 1400 block of New Haven Road, according to a police media release. He was taken to the United Regional Health Care System and then transported to a Fort Worth hospital where he died. Police learned he had been shot.
Allegations in an arrest affidavit filed in the case Thursday revealed police tracked a trail of blood from where Royster was found to the intersection of New Haven and Parkdale streets.
Royster's sister lives near where the incident occurred and told police her brother had gotten into an argument with King, and King had shot him in the face with an air rifle, according to allegations.
Police arrested King's wife, Sabrina, on an unrelated warrant. She told officers she had waited in a car when the two men got into an argument in the intersection and that King had shot Royster with a pellet rifle. She said she drove away after the shooting.
Security video showed the car speeding away. Police received multiple Crime Stoppers tips and tips from informants alleging King had shot Royster with an air rifle.
Also, Royster's girlfriend told investigators she had received calls from King in which he admitted shooting Royster and threatened her as well, according to allegations.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Police nab suspect in city's latest murder
