Witness describes precursor and shooting of Port Arthur young man
Published 12:38 am Thursday, March 10, 2022
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The arrest of three Port Arthur men following a fatal shooting last month came after a witness approached police with an account of what happened, according to probable cause affidavits.
The body of Christopher Thomas, 20, was found Feb. 18 in a canal on West 53rd Street. A call to the Port Arthur Police Department was made at 8:30 a.m.
Detectives on scene were unable to determine the cause of death, the documents state.
That evening, a man arrived at the police station, saying he witnessed Thomas’ death.
The witness described seeing the victim in an argument with Charles Moss III, afterward approaching Moss and asking him to leave the scene.
The accused returned with two other men shortly thereafter, and all three exited the vehicle.
“The witness said he then heard gunshots and no longer saw Thomas,” the documents say.
The three men in the vehicle fled the scene.
On Feb. 24, police named Moss, 21, Jakobi Broussard, 20, and Arthur Small, 18, as suspects. The following day, Broussard and Small were arrested and charged with murder on warrants signed by Jefferson County Justice of the Peace Ben Collins Sr. Det. Sadie Guedry said PAPD, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals found the two men in the city but in different locations.
Moss was arrested Feb. 26.
Wednesday afternoon, all three were indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury, and remained in the Jefferson County Jail on $1 million bonds.
Thomas’ death was the city’s fourth homicide of 2022.