A 27-year-old man who was staying at an Airbnb in Texas has been arrested for allegedly killing a 51-year-old delivery driver, attacking the man while fully naked and beating him to death with a piece of firewood the victim was delivering.
Chrisantus Omondi was taken into custody and charged with one count each of murder, aggravated assault against a security officer, and obstruction or retaliation in the brutal slaying of Scott Edward Jackson, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a report from Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA, Jackson and his daughter, Kasey De Leon, ran a firewood delivery business together. On the night of his tragic death, Jackson was reportedly delivering firewood to a man who was a regular customer and lived on Wendover Drive in Fort Worth.
The attack happened while Jackson was delivering the firewood to a customer, who later told the station about the attack.
“As we’re loading up the wheelbarrow, this random guy shows up and gets directly in my face and accuses me of being on his property and being in his house and he never wants to see us again,” the customer said. “He was extremely naked.”
When the customer and Jackson told the naked man to go away so they could get out of the frigid cold, he reportedly snapped and attacked them both. The customer was injured in the incident but survived.
“It happened so fast,” the customer told the station. “So, so fast.”
Per the customer, the naked man grabbed one of the pieces of firewood Jackson had been delivering and struck him over the head with it. Omondi then allegedly chased after the customer, who ran into his backyard and made it into his house where he called 911. The customer reportedly said that he then watched as Omondi went back to Jackson and continued to strike him repeatedly with the firewood.
The customer told WFAA that he saw the assailant clearly during the attack and subsequent pursuit, saying, “I was looking death in the face.”
Another witness reportedly told police that after hitting Jackson in the head with the firewood, Omondi allegedly dumped the remainder of the wheelbarrow on the victim and fled the area. Jackson was later pronounced dead at the scene.
A subsequent autopsy determined that Jackson’s cause of death was blunt force injuries to his head and neck, according to court documents obtained by Fort Worth NBC affiliate KXAS.
Police tracked Omondi to an Airbnb across the street from where the crime took place. When authorities arrived, a woman who had also been renting a room at the address reportedly said that Omondi “came running into the house yelling at her” before trying to break into her room by force.
Authorities located Omondi at the Airbnb and used a stun gun to take him into custody, noting that he was being aggressive and refusing to follow commands, KXAS reported.
A GoFundMe to help support Jackson’s family can be found here.
Omondi is currently being held in the Tarrant County Detention Center on $300,000 bond.
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