Arlington police have arrested a former high school classmate of John Ross Shreves, the 27-year-old Kennedale teacher found shot to death early Monday morning, in connection with his slaying.
Police said Thursday that 27-year-old Patrick Jardell Brooks has been arrested and is facing a felony murder charge in connection with Shreves' fatal shooting Sunday evening.
At this time, Arlington police have not revealed a motive in the shooting but did reveal greater details about the investigation in an arrest warrant affidavit released Thursday afternoon.
According to the affidavit, at about 2 a.m. Monday a manager at No Frills Grill and Bar on Little Road was doing a routine check of the back parking lot when he saw a shattered window and an unresponsive man in the driver's seat of a parked, idling car.
The manager called police who arrived and discovered the body of a man who had been apparently shot several times in the head and neck. The findings were later confirmed by the Tarrant County medical examiner who said the man, identified as Shreves, suffered multiple injuries to his head, brain and neck and that the shots entered from the right side and traveled to the left. Investigators said there were no signs of a struggle or other trauma to the victim.
Police said evidence taken at the scene, including text messages on Shreves' phone, led them to Brooks, who police said was a passenger and arrived at the bar with Shreves.
Video surveillance from the bar helped establish a timeline that showed Shreves pull into the parking lot at about 11:30 p.m. According to a detective's statement in the affidavit, several muzzle flashes can be seen coming from inside the car 7 seconds after the driver parked and that 22 seconds after parking, a man can be seen exiting the front passenger seat of the vehicle before running west into a grassy area south of the parking lot.
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Investigators were able to retrieve several text messages from Shreves phone, which was found charging in his idling car, that showed a conversation with a person listed in his phone as Patrick Brooks. In that conversation, Shreves asked Brooks if he wanted to get a drink and if they should meet at No Frills. The person responded that he couldn't drive due to a recent DWI, so Shreves offered to pick him up. A text from Shreves saying he had arrived to pick up his friend was the last activity on the phone, police said.
Police confirmed the number listed in Shreves' phone for Patrick Brooks was also listed in a criminal offense report for Patrick Jardell Brooks. Investigators determined Brooks had a criminal history including a DWI conviction in 2012 as well as convictions for possessing prohibited weapons and for discharging a firearm in certain municipalities.
Detectives also learned early Monday morning that Brooks and Shreves were friends on Facebook, though later that afternoon that connection had been removed and Brooks' Facebook profile was no longer available.
Also in the affidavit, police said a close friend of Shreves said she was aware that Brooks and the victim had recently reconnected and that she observed him texting with Brooks on June 8 and that the nature of those texts included making plans to meet up on June 9, the night he was shot and killed.
On Tuesday, detectives went to Brooks' home where they said he and his grandfather, Harvey Brooks, were "immediately verbally defiant and belligerent with detectives." Brooks refused to provide his phone number to police and told them he hadn't heard about Shreves' murder or had any communication with him in over five years. According to the affidavit, Brooks eventually admitted he had heard about the man's slaying and that he did know Shreves, but was "reluctant and unwilling to answer any questions about his knowledge of and friendship with the victim dating back to their time together in high school."
A warrant for Brooks' arrest was issued shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday and he was taken into custody later that morning at his Arlington home by members of the Arlington Police Department's Fugitives, Homicide and Tactical units. Brooks is being held in the Arlington City Jail on $100,000 bond.
Shreves was an English teacher at Kennedale Jr. High School and had been with the district for three years, the last two in his current position, according to the Kennedale Independent School District. Shreves was a 2004 graduate of Kennedale High School and first attended college at Southwestern University in Georgetown before graduating in 2008 from the University of North Texas, according to his web page on the district's web site.
A few hours before Shreves' body was found, and only a few blocks away, police found the body of 67-year-old Signe Edwards inside her home with visible signs of trauma. Edwards' death is being investigated as a homicide, though it is not believed to be related to the Shreves murder. Her exact cause of death is pending, per the Tarrant County medical examiner.
