A beloved Terrell, TX shop owner known to his community as “Pops,” was shot and killed late on Friday night, according to the Terrell Police Department.
The murder and robbery occurred at about 10:56 p.m. on Friday, May 12, 2023. It was then that the Terrell Police Department received a 911 call regarding shots fired at 402 Virginia Street, which is the location of Mom & Pops GAS station, convenience store, and liquor. The store is owned by Fahed Fatayri, who was 82 years old at the time of his death.
Terrell Police Department officers were already nearby the store at the time of the attack and so heard the gunfire that killed “Pops” and were already searching the vicinity when the 911 call came in to dispatch.
Terrell Police Department Deputy Chief Arley Sansom said, “Due to the quick response, Officers located the suspect attempting to flee south from the location and he was detained, right away. The suspects’ jacket and gun were located nearby.”
Investigators determined the gunfire came from Mom & Pops and it was there that they located the shop owner, 82-year-old Fahed “Pops” Fatayri, deceased of apparent gunfire. After finding Fatayri’s corpse, they were then able to positively identify the man they had already placed into custody using in-store video surveillance and witness statements.
The suspect arrested and identified by police is 20-year-old Jamarco Ja Keith Blanton of Dallas, Texas. Blanton has been charged with capital murder and is currently awaiting arraignment.
This wasn’t the first time that Pops’ store was robbed, though the last time a robbery happened, he was able to defend himself and shoot the perp, as inforney noted, saying:
In 2015, Pops shot a would-be robber in the buttocks, defending Itadel, who was being robbed at gunpoint. Pops, then 75, told inForney.com it wasn’t the first time he had to use a gun to fend off an attempted robbery.
Inforney added, in its report on Friday’s deadly robbery:
“Our prayers go out to the family and friends during this tragic time,” stated Sansom.
Fatayri’s body was transported to the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Terrell, TX is located about 32 miles from Dallas, TX, which has seen a large amount of violent crime recently. NeighborhoodScout, reporting on the crime in Dallas, said:
With a crime rate of 45 per one thousand residents, Dallas has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes – from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 22. Within Texas, more than 98% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Dallas.
How does the crime rate in Dallas compare to similar sized communities across America? When NeighborhoodScout compared Dallas with other communities its size, we found that the crime rate was near the average for all other communities of similar size. So, whether Dallas’s crime rate is high or low compared to all places in the US, when we control for population size and compare it to places that are similar in size, it is near the middle of the pack in crime rate; not much more or less dangerous, and about what we would expect from the statistics.
Now let us turn to take a look at how Dallas does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Dallas.
For Dallas, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout’s analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Dallas is one in 116.
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