North Texas Crips member sentenced for murder in Fort Worth shooting death of rival
A North Texas gang member was sentenced Tuesday to 60 years in prison after he was found guilty of murder and engaging in organized crime in connection to the 2021 killing of 25-year-old Quiton Murray, according to the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.
Jonathan Howard, 33, is a member of the 5x2 Crips gang, according to the DA’s office. He and two other people waited for Murray to leave an Arlington nightclub on March 28, 2021, and followed him in his BMW to an east Fort Worth apartment complex, where they shot and killed him, authorities said.
Murray was a Piru Blood gang member, according to a motion filed in 2021 by the District Attorney’s Office that sought to set the conditions of Howard’s bond in the case.
Howard previously threatened Murray and found out he was going to be at the Arlington nightclub, according to the bond conditions motion. Howard sought out Murray at the club and started a fight. Security staffers removed Howard from the club.
Howard waited for Murray to leave the club and followed him and two other people in a vehicle. When Murray neared home, Howard and Merrell Hall, 25, opened fire, prosecutors alleged.
Court records indicate Hall died sometime in August or September 2022. Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office records do not include any information about Hall’s death. Miles Brissette, Hall’s attorney in 2022, told the Star-Telegram that Hall died at home.
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Howard was out of jail on bond for a previous aggravated assault charge when the killing occurred. He was wearing an ankle monitor.
Two other people, a 26-year-old woman and 24 year-old man, were also in the vehicle Howard and Hall fired on.
