A witness told Abilene police he saw a man armed with a silver handgun flee just after 42-year-old Scott Farrion Bartlett was fatally wounded, according to allegations in a police complaint.
John Manuel Rangel Jr., 20, was being held Tuesday in the Taylor County Jail in lieu of a $1.5 million bond for a murder charge in connection with Bartlett’s Oct. 15 death, online jail and court documents show.
Rangel was arrested Friday and charged with murder, according to a media release from the Abilene Police Department.
Murder is a first degree felony punishable by 5 to 99 years or life in prison. Anyone charged with a crime is presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
About 11:11 p.m. Oct. 15, officers were called to Bartlett’s home in the 1200 block of Lillius Street in response to a report of an injured person, police said. Bartlett was found by the officers inside his home with gunshot wounds. He was taken to Hendrick Medical Center for treatment where he later died.
Detectives contacted the 911 caller, who was a witness in the home at the time of the shooting, according to the police complaint. The witness told police that Rangel had visited the home several times before to collect on a drug-related debt Bartlett allegedly owed him.
The complaint states the witness heard a knock at the front door while in a spare bedroom. Entering the living room to sit down, the witness then heard Bartlett and Rangel engaged in conversation.
“I really don’t want to have to do this,” the witness heard Rangel say, which was immediately followed by two gunshots, according to allegations in the police complaint.
The witness told police Rangel then fled on foot out of the home, armed with a small sliver handgun, according to allegations.
Upon being shown a mugshot of the suspect from an April 21 arrest, the complaint states the witness did allege Rangel as the shooter.
(This story was updated to add a photo.)
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene police allege murder suspect armed with silver handgun seen fleeing scene
Reporting by Ronald W. Erdrich, Abilene Reporter-News / Abilene Reporter-News
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