A man has been arrested for allegedly robbing and murdering two gas station clerks in North Texas.
Davonta Mathis, 21, of Waco, was arrested following the murder of a gas station clerk in Pleasant Grove and another in Mesquite, per Fox 4 KDFW.
The first robbery occurred on June 20 in Mesquite at the Family Stop Food Store in the 1700 block of Bruton Road.
It was there where Mohammad Hussain, a 60-year-old Carrollton resident, was shot. The suspect also took several items from the store during the incident. Hussain was transported to a hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, where he was pronounced dead, per The Dallas Morning News.
The second incident occurred in Pleasant Grove at the Fox gas station on Lake June Road during the early morning hours of June 22. Mathis allegedly shot 32-year-old clerk Gopi Krishna Dasari before stealing items and running away. This incident occurred in Council District 5, represented by Jaime Resendez.
Dasari was taken to the hospital in critical condition and later died from his injuries.
Surveillance cameras from the Mesquite robbery helped police identify the suspect’s car, and a description was sent out to all Mesquite patrol officers. An alert officer spotted Mathis’ car 20 minutes following the second murder robbery in Dallas.
“An officer observed the vehicle, got behind it, and attempted to stop it,” explained Mesquite Police Sgt. Curtis Phillip, per Fox 4. “Vehicle pursuit ensued, which led to a foot pursuit, and a suspect was taken into custody.”
Mathis was later connected to the Dallas murder robbery by items found in the vehicle he was driving.
“It’s sad that someone would choose this path in life,” Phillip told Fox 4. “But unfortunately, the only person that could have changed that was him.”
Mathis is currently being held on a $7.5 million bond and faces three charges, including murder, capital murder, and evading arrest, per the DMN.
As of June 25, the City of Dallas has logged 100 murders and 1,084 robberies this year, per the City’s Crime Analytics dashboard. The Dallas police force has been spread thin, operating with only about 3,000 officers — 25% fewer than the number recommended in a City report — due in part to a chronic nationwide shortage of peace officers. In addition, the department has a much smaller budget compared to other high-crime jurisdictions, with just $654 million allocated to DPD this fiscal year.
