Murder suspect killed man over minor fender bender, Lewisville police say
LEWISVILLE, Texas - The father of a newborn was found shot dead in a Lewisville parking lot.
Police say the man who shot him apparently did it just after a minor car crash.
Surveillance video captured the murder of 27-year-old Jonathan Berto.
It was his mother who ultimately found his body after he didn't show up to pick up his girlfriend and baby.
Arrion Keonta Morris
Lewisville police say nearby surveillance video captured the shooting on camera and also the suspect’s license plate.
Investigators traced the plate to a Mesquite address and used Flock cameras to take the suspect into custody.
It was a mother’s instinct Sunday evening when Rosa Berto-Chapa received a phone call that her son, Berto, was late picking up his girlfriend and their newborn. She tracked her son’s last location at a parking lot of a Lewisville auto shop off I-35 E.
"And I saw his body laying on the ground, covered in a plastic white bag," she said.
Lewisville police say Berto was found shot to death next to his silver truck just after 5 p.m. Sunday.
The parking lot where Jonathan Berto was found shot to death next to his silver truck just after 5 p.m. Sunday.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit FOX 4 obtained Thursday, investigators believe Berto’s murder took place shortly after a minor car collision.
Police viewed surveillance video from the auto shop showing a black Tahoe pull up next to Berto’s truck.
Police say suspect Arrion Morris, 39, got out of the Tahoe "holding a semi-automatic firearm in his right hand."
Police say Morris "looked down at the front bumper of his Tahoe, shakes his head from side to side once" and then is seen "pointing the gun at Jonathan’s head."
According to investigators, Morris fired four times and then took off.
Damage on Jonathan Berto's vehicle after a minor crash
"There was no reason for my son’s life to be taken that way. There is no reason," Berto-Chapa said.
A photo shows a bullet hole through Berto’s passenger window plus black paint scraped across the back left side of his truck.
Investigators say they got a license plate number for the Tahoe from the surveillance video and traced it back to an address in Mesquite.
Tuesday, Mesquite police pulled Morris over and took him into custody. He’s now charged with murder.
"He can remember my son’s face for the rest of his life and know what he did to this little girl that lost her dad," Berto-Chapa said. "She won’t be able to ever dance with her dad. She won’t ever be able to hug him anymore. I want him to know what he did."
Morris is being held in Denton County jail on a $2 million bond. According to police, he was arrested for manslaughter back in 2002 in Mississippi.