‘There’s still more that could be done’: Family mourns man killed in Forest Hill robbery
Corey Wallace Sr. was known by his loved ones as a family man who worked hard for his money and was loved by everyone in Forest Hill.
A father of two and a mechanic for Mercedes-Benz, Wallace had turned 45 years old just four days before he was fatally shot in his home on Aug. 7.
“He just enjoyed his family, enjoyed the ones that loved him,” said Dedrick Evans, Wallace’s grandson. “Even if somebody did something bad to him, he still never had a negative word to say about them or to them.”
Family members told the Star-Telegram that Wallace was robbed in his Forest Hill home on the night of Aug. 7 before he was fatally shot.
His family said that police told them Labertrand Bell and Artis Womack, both 18, are two of the three suspects investigators believe to be involved in the robbery and shooting.
Bell was arrested on Aug. 13 on suspicion of capital murder of multiple people, including the Aug. 7 Forest Hill homicide and a shooting that killed two 19-year-old men on July 19 at a home in Fort Worth, according to court records. He’s in the Tarrant County Jail with bond set at $1 million.
Womack was arrested by the Forest Hill Police Department and was booked into the Tarrant County Jail on a charge of capital murder by terroristic threat on the same day Bell was arrested, according to court records. His bond was set at $500,000. According to court documents, Womack had received deferred adjudication after pleading guilty in March to deadly conduct/discharging a firearm in another case. Now that Womack faces a murder charge, he will be sentenced on the deadly conduct charge, court records say.
Wallace’s family said they believe that a third suspect is still at large.
Evans said that his grandfather was hosting a gambling game night at his home on Aug. 7 and the three suspects arrived. Wallace had met Bell and Womack before, but did not personally know the third suspect, according to the family.
Evans’ cousin, who was at the home when Wallace was killed, said one of the suspects was the first to pull out a gun, pointing it at the cousin.
The family said that Wallace was armed and also pulled his gun out to defend the cousin, but was fired at by two suspects and was shot in the back by Bell.
The Forest Hill Police Department did not respond to the Star-Telegram’s request for information about the homicide.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit in the Fort Worth murder case, Forest Hill police informed Fort Worth detectives that Bell was the suspected shooter in the Forest Hill homicide.
“His intentions were not to gamble. The motive was robbery,” Wallace’s wife, Daphne Lee, said about Bell.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Wallace’s death a homicide and said his cause of death was a gunshot wound to his back.
According to Evans, his cousin was not injured.
Family members say that as they remember Wallace, there is not one bad thing anyone could say about him.
Evans said Wallace “did nothing wrong” by anyone.
Evans said that at a vigil held for Wallace on Aug. 10 at the Forest Hill Civic & Convention Center, many people attended.
“The parking lot was full of people,” Evans said. “That’s how many people loved him.”
But Wallace’s wife says that police have fallen short by not publicizing the shooting.
“They update me and be nice because they don’t want me to say anything,” Lee said. “They’ve been giving us bits and pieces, doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but there’s still more that could be done because now it’s a secret.”
