Enrique Avila, who suffers from schizophrenia, left his north Fort Worth home around 2 a.m. early Sunday, a source told police.
He walked toward Dongchang Avenue and saw someone on a black SUV shooting into the air.
Avila, 28, approached the Ford Expedition as it was parked at the intersection of East Long and Schwartz Avenue in the city’s Diamond Head area.
Avila yelled at front-seat passenger Maverick Parrish through the open window, according to witnesses who witnessed the encounter from outside the car. Avila was upset that Parrish fired a gun near his home.
The SUV reversed and attempted to pass Avila.
Avila walked to the car. As Avila walked toward the driver, Parrish stuck a tan handgun out the window and shot Avila once in the head, according to a witness statement a detective described in an affidavit supporting Parrish’s murder warrant.
Avila fell dead in the grass in the middle.
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Fort Worth Police Department Homicide Detectives Jed Miller and Norman Abrams interviewed members of the Expedition at the time of the shooting. The affidavit does not attribute the account directly to the diocese.
The affidavit appears to anticipate and rebut the self-defense argument. Detective Miller wrote that no witnesses believed Avila was armed or attempted to attack Parrish or anyone else. No weapons were found in Avila.
“[Parish] Deadly force was used despite there being no imminent threat of harm,” Detective Miller wrote.
Parrish, 17, owned two handguns, one black and the other tan, according to interviews with the SUV’s occupants included in the deposition.
Witnesses told police that Parrish shot a tan handgun into the ground multiple times before encountering Avila at a traffic light.
Avila approached the front passenger door, spoke to Parrish and threw a gang sign.
The Expedition backed up and the driver tried to go around Avila, who instead walked into the path of the vehicle. The driver stopped again.
After Parrish shot Avila, the driver sped away, but returned and passed by to see if Avila had been shot, according to interviews with the SUV’s occupants summarized in the deposition. The driver saw the emergency vehicle and turned around again to leave.
Officers from the Real Time Crime Center watched the Expedition leave via city cameras and relayed the information to patrol officers who detained the five passengers.
Parrish was being held Monday in the Tarrant County Jail. The bond amount has not yet been determined.
