Teen viciously beaten because he identified suspect in Fort Worth holdup, mother says

A 16-year-old former Timber Creek High School student was beaten, kicked and left with a concussion on Easter Sunday as he walked home in far north Fort Worth because he identified a suspect in a July 2020 robbery, according to a relative.

A rap video released just after the assault featured one of the suspects talking about the April 4 attack, said Cathy McOmber of Fort Worth, mother of the teen.

Fort Worth police have investigated the case for more than two weeks.

“I am being told despite my son positively identifying this man via the snap video he posted _ that they don’t have enough and don’t know who the other 3 boys are,” McOmber said in a Facebook post. “As his mother, you can probably imagine how hard this is.”

McOmber took to Facebook after waiting more than two weeks for arrests in the case, but no one was in custody for the assault on her son, who suffered a concussion, a broken nose, two black eyes and contusions across his arms and legs, she said.

“The case has been submitted to the DA for consultation,” said Fort Worth Officer Daniel Segura, a department spokesman, in a Wednesday email to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

McOmber believes this all started in July 2020 when three young men attempted to rob her son, and he later identified a suspect in the case.

In July 2020, McOmber said, her son called her while at work to ask to go with a friend to a nearby Fort Worth store.

“Because of COVID, he had stayed mostly around the house, so I think it would be good for him to get out. He said a friend had asked him,” McOmber said in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I now think he was set up to be robbed because his friend knew he had a job and money.”

Her son arrived at the store and met his friend, who was with two others that the 16-year-old didn’t know. They cornered him, the older boy pulled out a knife and they demanded everything he had, but McOmber’s son took off running and called 911, she said.

McOmber’s son identified one of the juveniles to Fort Worth police. Two juveniles were later detained along with 20-year-old Grant Lee Winingham, who was charged on Aug. 11, 2020, with robbery in the case. Winingham’s trial is pending. Information on the juveniles was not available.

On April 4, McOmber’s son was with a friend near a Fort Worth store. McOmber’s son went in the store while his friend stayed outside.

“Someone walked up to my son’s friend and told him, ‘You don’t want to be hanging around that snitch’ and walked away,” McOmber said. “My son came out of the store and his friend told him what happened. My son told him about the robbery.”

McOmber’s son and his friend started walking home near Timberland Boulevard in far north Fort Worth.

Four young men in a silver four-door sedan stopped near McOmber’s son and his friend, and they got out of the vehicle, she said.

“One suspect walked up to my son and asked him, ‘What’s your name?,’” and when my son answered, that man punched him,” McOmber said. “Two other suspects joined in the beating, right there on the sidewalk.”

The fourth suspect had grabbed McOmber’s son friend and tossed him to the ground, she said.

McOmber said several cars began pulling over, with people honking and screaming at the suspects to stop. At some point, they did, got back in their car and drove away.

McOmber said she received a call from a witness who alerted her that her son had been beaten on a sidewalk.

The mother said it took more than four hours before Fort Worth police responded to the scene.

On her own, McOmber said, she managed to track down and identify one of the suspects.

“I left word I wanted to talk to him and his mother,” McOmber said. “Two days after the assault, they showed up at my home. How they knew where I lived I don’t know.“

McOmber said the young man and his mother confronted her to the point that she asked them to leave before she could even ask any questions.

“I did hear him say, ‘Man, I know he’s a snitch,’ talking about my son,” McOmber said.

Since that attack, McOmber said she has spent thousands of dollars on medical bills and her son has had five doctor appointments in 10 days.

He recently had surgery to repair his broken nose.

“He is still suffering issues from the concussion,” McOmber said in her Facebook post. “I withdrew him from his high school because of all this.”

McOmber said she posted on Facebook details of the attack to encourage residents to contact police and voice their concerns.

“I am certain more can and should be done to hold these individuals responsible,” McOmber said on Facebook. “I just need help to bring justice to this horrific attack.”