The Arlington Police Department has arrested 29-year-old Mekel Gaston in connection to the April 2020 shooting death of Eugene Johnson during an attempted robbery at an apartment complex in the 800 block of N. Oak Street.
On May 16, 2025, members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force located Gaston in Arlington and took him into custody without incident. He is currently being held at the Tarrant County Jail on one count of Capital Murder.
The incident occurred on April 28, 2020, around 4:56 a.m., when officers responded to reports of an unresponsive man in the apartment complex parking lot. Upon arrival, police found Eugene Johnson with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Investigators determined Johnson believed he was meeting a woman he had been texting, but instead was confronted by an armed male suspect who attempted to rob him. A struggle ensued, and Johnson was shot.
Detectives noted the robbery matched the pattern of multiple other armed robberies reported at the same complex. In 2025, a key witness came forward with information linking Gaston to those incidents and to the fatal shooting. Detectives also reviewed video footage and identified physical similarities between Gaston and the shooting suspect seen in surveillance images.
According to investigators, Gaston posed online as a woman to lure Johnson to the location with the intent to rob him.
In addition to the Capital Murder charge, Gaston was arrested on an unrelated warrant for Assault Causing Bodily Injury. He is currently in the Tarrant County Jail being held on a $1 million bond.
