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Enrique Avila was having a schizophrenic episode early Sunday and left his north Fort Worth house about 2 a.m., a person there would tell police.
He walked toward East Long Avenue and saw someone in a black sport utility vehicle firing a gun into the air.
Avila, 28, approached the Ford Expedition as it was stopping at the intersection of East Long and Schwartz avenues in the Diamond Hill section of the city.
Avila yelled at the front seat passenger, Maverik Parish, through the open door window, according to the witness who saw the encounter from outside of the vehicle. Avila was upset that Parish had been firing a gun in his neighborhood.
The SUV reversed and tried to pass by Avila.
Avila stepped in front of the vehicle. As Avila was walking toward the driver, Parish stuck a tan pistol out the window and fired one time into Avila’s head, according to witness accounts described by a detective in an affidavit supporting Parish’s murder arrest warrant.
Avila collapsed into the grass of the median and died.
Fort Worth Police Department Homicide Unit detectives Jed Miller and Norman Abrams interviewed the people who were the Expedition at the time of the shooting. The affidavit does not attribute an account directly to Parish.
The affidavit appears to anticipate and rebut a self-defense argument. No witness believed Avila was armed or trying to assault Parish or anyone else, Detective Miller wrote. No weapon was found on Avila.
“[Parish] used deadly force despite not being threatened with imminent harm,” Detective Miller wrote.
Parish, 17, was in possession of two handguns, one black, the other tan, according to the SUV occupant interviews summarized in the affidavit.
Moments before the encounter with Avila at the traffic light, Parish fired the tan pistol into the ground several times, witnesses told police.
Avila approached the front passenger door and talked to Parish and threw gang signs.
The Expedition reversed, and its driver tried to drive around Avila, who walked into the path of the vehicle. Its driver stopped again.
After Parish fired upon Avila, the driver sped away but returned and passed by to see if Avila had been shot, according to the SUV occupant interviews summarized in the affidavit. The driver saw emergency vehicles and made a U-turn to leave a second time.
Officers in the Real Time Crime Center saw on city cameras the Expedition leaving and relayed the information to patrol officers who detained the five occupants.
Parish was in custody of the Tarrant County Jail on Monday. A bond amount has not been set.
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Emerson Clarridge covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He works days and reports on law enforcement affairs in Tarrant County. He previously was a reporter at the Omaha World-Herald and the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, New York.