A Texas man has been charged with murder after police say he beat another man to death in Fort Worth on Saturday.
The suspect allegedly used the victim’s own firewood as the murder weapon in what was described as an unprovoked attack.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by KXAS-TV, 51-year-old Scotty Jackson was delivering firewood to a home in Fort Worth early Saturday evening when he had a deadly encounter with 27-year-old Chrisantus Omondi.
As Jackson delivered firewood to a customer in one of the city’s neighborhoods, Omondi came out of another residence across the street naked, police said.
A witness who said he was Jackson’s customer described to KXAS how the killing unfolded.
“As Scotty was handing me a piece of firewood and I was putting it into a wheelbarrow, as I turned to my left, I just noticed this naked black man just showed up out of nowhere,” said the witness, who requested anonymity.
“As I’m falling backward, I see he picks up a piece of firewood and hauls off and hits Scotty in the head,” the man said.
The witness said Omondi then struck him once in the arm with the same piece of firewood, but he was able to escape.
“Looking back and realizing it as he’s chasing me, I’m staring death in the face,” the witness said. “This man is here now to kill both of us.”
Should this suspect face the death penalty?
The man said he got to a safe distance and called police.
Jackson was repeatedly struck with logs and died at the scene.
The affidavit said Omondi was arrested at a nearby Airbnb where he had been staying after officers had to use a stun gun on him, KXAS reported.
He has been charged with murder and was in jail in Tarrant County on a $300,000 bond.
Jackson’s family started a GoFundMe campaign to help cover his final expenses.
His daughter, Kasey DeLeon, wrote in the campaign that her father delivered firewood to people to earn extra money on the side.
With last week’s frigid temperatures, DeLeon said, Jackson was working hard to make sure his customers had enough wood to heat their homes.
“He had just called me at 7:56pm that he was fixing to deliver wood and I told him be careful,” she recalled on the GoFundMe page. “Little do I know that’d be the last conversation I had with him.”
The grieving daughter wrote that Jackson died “delivering firewood when a drug addict beat him” with that very same firewood.
DeLeon asked those who could not afford to help her family cover the funeral expenses to offer their prayers instead.
As of early Friday afternoon, the campaign had raised more than $8,300, well over its goal of $5,000.
