A memorial set up for Bryson Rodgers, a 29-year-old man killed in the 2900 block of Crockett Street in 2024, steps away from where the shooting occurred. Police said Karlove Palmer shot and killed Rodgers after an argument about Palmer dating one of Rodgers’ friends.
James Hartley
jhartley@star-telegram.com
The shooter who gunned down a man in Fort Worth’s West 7th entertainment district in 2024 amid an argument about a person whom the assailant was dating has pleaded guilty to murder.
Karlove Palmer submitted his judicial confession on Monday in Criminal District Court No. 4 in Tarrant County in the killing of Bryson Rodgers.
Under an agreement reached by a prosecutor and a defense attorney, Palmer was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Palmer, 31, will become eligible for parole after he serves 20 years.
Had Palmer been found guilty of murder at trial, a jury or judge would have considered a prison term of five to 99 years, or life. If he had been found at trial to have been a repeat offender, the range of punishment would have been 15 to 99 years, or life. Palmer was previously convicted of unlawfully carrying a weapon in a weapons-free zone near an elementary school and tampering with government records.
Rodgers was in a group of people standing on the sidewalk on March 2, 2024, in the 2900 block of Crockett Street when Palmer, from across the street, yelled that he heard Rodgers and his friends talking about Palmer, according to Fort Worth Police Department Homicide Unit Detective Joey McAnally’s affidavit supporting a warrant for Palmer’s arrest.
Rodgers mimed a slap in Palmer’s direction, and Palmer began to shout at Rodgers to “come slap me” before crossing the street and approaching Rodgers and his group.
Rodgers told Palmer that “the issue was not that serious.” Palmer continued trying to get him to fight. Eventually, Rodgers handed his flip flops and phone to a friend, making it appear that he was going to fight, and Palmer fired upon Rodgers. It appeared that Rodgers did not make physical contact with Palmer and that Rodgers could not have had a weapon, according to the affidavit.
Witnesses told police that Rodgers said in the initial interaction that he and Palmer “were cool,” and later told others that he and Palmer had not talked since they argued over the phone about a relationship Palmer was in with one of Rodgers’ friends.
This story was originally published August 21, 2026 at 12:10 PM.
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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.