Updated at 9:30 a.m. Thursday: Kennedale police say they have arrested a suspect in the case.
Jail records identified the suspect as 18-year-old Cody Basinger. He was booked into the Mansfield Jail on Thursday morning and charged with murder. Bail has been set at $50,000.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner identified the victim as 18-year-old Dakota Birdwell.
Original post at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday: Kennedale police are investigating a fatal shooting outside a church — the Fort Worth suburb’s first homicide since 2009.
About 7:05 this morning, a motorist reported seeing a white male lying on his back in the parking lot of Life Fellowship Church in the 600 block of North Little School Road, Kennedale police Captain Darrell Hull said.
Police discovered signs of trauma, possibly a gunshot wound, on the young man’s head.
Police have since identified the man, who they do not believe was a member of Life Fellowship. His name, however, has not been released.
“An unfortunate incident has occurred in our church parking lot. … An investigation is presently underway. No further information is available at this time and we will be giving updates throughout the day. We would ask each of you to pray for the family involved,” Life Fellowship Church said on its Facebook page.
So far, Hull said, police have not been able to establish a motive or suspect in the case.
“We are in the process of talking to different people in the surrounding area to see if they’ve heard anything, seen anything,” Hull said.
Anyone with information about the incident can call Kennedale police at 817-478-5416.
Kennedale is located in southeastern Tarrant County and is home to about 6,700 people. Hull said the city has low criminal activity.
The last reported homicide in Kennedale occurred in December 2009, when a man fatally stabbed his pregnant wife, bludgeoned his 5-year-old daughter and father-in-law with a baseball bat, and burned down their house, on the same block as Life Fellowship Church.
He was sentenced to death in 2011.