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Police Arrest Suspected Murderer Of Minister

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FORT WORTH (CBS11) - Friends of a murdered Fort Worth minister say they're relieved a suspected killer is behind bars. But they still have nagging questions about what led to the minister's death.

The people who did charity work at Mayfield Baptist Church with Tai Forney here say they can only speculate about the moments leading up to his murder, and pray for the man police think is his killer.

"I'm glad they caught the person who did this," said Steve Baldwin who heads up the Tarrant Area Food Bank mobile food bank in the Stop Six area. "And we will pray for him, also. Hopefully, he'll recognize what he did -- another senseless act of violence."

The suspected killer they'll pray for is 37-year-old Gary Ervin, a homeless man police believe shot Forney in the chest and stomach. Police found Forney's body in his car parked on a deserted street behind this Stop Six area apartment complex.

"He was one of those that loved what he was doing," Baldwin said. "And his passion was to serve, to really serve other folks."

Forney is remembered as a minister who helped feed the hungry from a mobile food pantry and who worked tirelessly with the homeless.

Police have not released any details about what why Forney would have been behind this apartment complex in the middle of the night in a neighborhood even people who live here describe as a high crime area.

"There's shootings, a lot of drug activity, a lot of people running from the police," said Hector Torrez who lives in the apartment complex.

"What we surmised is that he had actually going to help somebody will take somebody home or something," Baldwin said. "But he was actually due to open the church in a few hours, yeah. Right before he was killed."

Forney's friends are setting up a memorial fund in his name at the Tarrant Area Food Bank.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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