Suspect, victims identified in deadly Fort Worth crime spree
FORT WORTH, Texas - The victims of Wednesday's deadly driving crime spree and chase and the driver have been identified.
Chassity Brooks, 38, is in jail and charged with capital murder. Police say his reckless driving in a stolen truck killed 45-year-old Jeffrey Mazurowski and 57-year-old Lailani Snell.
Remnants along Camp Bowie West Blvd tell part of the story from a trail of destruction Wednesday at four separate locations.
MORE: Fort Worth PD: Man in police chase used pickup truck to kill two people
Brooks is charged with two counts of murder and more.
John Sanchez, a manager at a Jiffy Lube Shop, was watching when Snell was struck and killed. She was on a bus stop bench.
"She was just hanging out minding her own business, chilling there all day. She’d been there since the morning time," Sanchez recalled. "I talked to her. She asked for a job here."
Sanchez says the driver in the stolen truck got out after the crash and tried to deceive the growing crowd.
"He kept telling us that he went that way. The guy was that way. And that the person on the ground was his mom," he recalled.
"We’re asking if there are witnesses out there that we’re not able to be talked to on the scene," said Fort Worth Police Spokesperson Tracy Carter.
The Camp Bowie scene at the bus stop was actually the third incident.
Surveillance video captured the moment police say Brooks drove a black pickup truck that he stole from a man who he stabbed into Taz Gameroom on Camp Bowie Blvd in Fort Worth. The crash happened around 1:45 p.m. Wednesday.
From outside, video shows the truck barrel toward the game room. From inside, the glass doors shattered as the people inside scrambled to get out of harm’s way.
The truck careened into a back office. A camera in that office shows the driver backing up and an employee running to escape. Under the rubble was Mazurowski, who was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
"Jeff was a good guy. He come in all the timel," said worker Chris Ford. "Never bothers nobody. Never nothing, you know."
Employees told FOX 4 Mazurowski lived in one of the nearby motels and sometimes worked at the game room to make extra money.
"He was actually sitting there quiet helping the boss at the time," Ford said.
"We had citizens that were able to point to him, were able to say he went that way. Officers were able to identify that and took leads," Carter said.
After striking and killing Snell at the bus stop, police say Brooks stole another truck and then led officers on a chase for several miles. Police were able to stop him around 3 p.m. near Misty Mountain Drive and Deer Trail.
"With this particular crime we had to utilize, immobilize everyone," Carter said. "Patrol, SWAT, our DUR team. Again, everybody played a big role."
But even as police swarmed the neighborhood, Brooks refused to surrender, trying even on flat tires to evade officers. They eventually used two armored vehicles to box him in and tear gas to force him out.
Snell’s daughter, Shantelle, is still in disbelief about what happened.
"I was really hoping they were wrong, she said.
Shantelle told FOX4 her mother had visited a nearby Jiffy Lube on Wednesday morning in the hopes of landing a job.
"She was in the exact wrong place at the exact wrong time," he said.
Originally from the Philippines, Snell says that’s where her mother should be laid to rest.
"Her life was hard enough here. And she needs to go home, and I need help to send her back home," she said.
"No matter what you’re going through, no matter what cards you’re dealt, you shouldn’t take it out on the world like that," Sanchez said.
Police say they don’t know of any connection between Brooks and either of the victims.