Fort Worth

Family in Fort Worth Killing Wants to Know Why Shooter Wasn't Arrested

5-year-old boy witnesses grandfather's shooting, family says

The family of a Fort Worth man shot to death last week is asking police to explain why the suspect was never arrested.

Kevin Battle, 57, was killed March 25 on the shared front porch of his duplex as he was barbecuing with his family.

Officers questioned his neighbor, but released him without filing charges.

"It happened so fast, I was in shock at first,” said Battle's son, Kevin Battle II.

The younger Battle said he went inside the house to get something while his father was with his 5-year-old grandson.

"While I'm inside, I hear a gunshot," he said. "So I run to the front of my dad's door. And what I see is, I see my dad turn around and him get shot in the back of the head and lay face down on the ground."

He said his father's neighbor who lives on the other side of the duplex did it.

He grabbed his son and ran.

"Shot him cold blooded. He didn't have to do that," said Battle's girlfriend Talydia Adams, both longtime workers at the General Motors plant in Arlington.

Adams said the neighbors had been friendly but were arguing recently over loud music. The two share a wall and the front doors are just a foot or two apart.

Right before the shooting, she said, Battle went to knock on his neighbor's door to ask him about something he had said to the young boy.

Police arrived within minutes, questioned the neighbor, and then let him go.

"They just said he said 'self defense,'" Adams said. "And we were like, we still don't believe it."

Police have released little information about what happened, publicly, or to the victim's family.

"I'm just mad the Fort Worth PD hasn't been very transparent with us," Battle's son said. "They're not giving us any information. They're not explaining why the neighbor's not arrested."

Now, they want the shooter behind bars or a more detailed explanation of why he's not.

"That was a senseless killing," Adams said.

A Fort Worth police spokesman emailed a statement saying the department is consulting with prosecutors.

"We can assure all of our citizens that our homicide detectives are working diligently on this case to provide some type of closure for the family," the statement said.

NBC 5 is not identifying the neighbor because he has not been arrested.

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