Authorities say Kendell Morris, 26, traveled 256 miles, from Houston to Arlington, to kill the mother of his child’s new boyfriend in May 2020, but he killed the wrong person. Now, he’s facing nearly 30 years in prison.
According to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Morris allegedly drove to the home he believed was the residence of the new boyfriend, with the intent to kill him. Prosecutors say the only description Morris had of his target was a “Black man with dreadlocks.”
Police say Morris spotted a man in the parking lot of the apartment complex and opened fire, killing a man named Robert Cooley III.
“He thought he saw the boyfriend and opened fire, killing Robert Cooley III, 24, who was not the boyfriend,” Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells wrote in a statement.
Morris was eventually arrested in Madisonville by a trooper, with an AR-15 rifle found inside of his car. Since then, he has been convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison by a Tarrant County jury.
