A Texas man cleared in the fatal shooting of his Black neighbor in March has been arrested — for another shooting.
Mark Jabben, 46, is charged with aggravated assault against a family member with a weapon. (Image courtesy of Fort Worth Police Department)
Mark Jabben, 46, was arrested by Fort Worth police on May 10 after authorities say he shot his girlfriend Theresa Ryan, CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reported. He was booked into jail on a count of aggravated assault against a relative with a weapon.
Authorities took Jabben into custody around 12:30 a.m. after they entered a residence to find a woman with a gunshot wound to her shoulder lying in a bedroom.
Jabben told police the shooting was an accident, but officers said they also noticed two knots and blood on Ryan’s head. She told an officer that Jabben had pointed a gun at her back and struck her twice before opening fire.
Paramedics took the victim to JPS Hospital in Fort Worth for treatment.
Jabben’s arrest comes less than two months after he shot his neighbor Kevin Battle in the face and the back of the head on March 25. The incident reportedly unfolded in front of Battle’s 5-year-old grandson, family members said.
Police declined to charge Jabben in the incident, saying there was evidence corroborating Jabben’s claims of self-defense after Battle tried entering into Jabben’s apartment during a verbal dispute. Battle’s family denied this and criticized the story put out by Fort Worth Police regarding their loved one’s demise.
Relatives said the argument unfolded after Jabben allegedly called Battle’s 5-year-old grandson a racial slur. When Battle’s grandson told him about it, family members said Battle knocked on Jabben’s door to confront him.
“We want justice,” Battle’s fiancée, Talydia Adams, told local media at the time. “We want [Jabben] arrested. He left us hurt, and we want him arrested now.”
Speaking to CBS DFW this week, Adams said she and family members were glad Jabben was finally behind bars but upset that it took another shooting for it to happen.
“I feel like Fort Worth, let us down, because I feel like they knew, they knew this man was dangerous,” she told the station.
The most recent shooting occurred on what would’ve been Battle’s 58th birthday, Adams added.
Battle’s case is expected to be presented before a grand jury sometime this summer.
