Cody Davontae Scott, 32, a Black man from Fort Worth, was shot while driving on East Berry Street on Monday, August 18, 2025, after what police described as an altercation that began near a convenience store. Officers responding around 2:50–2:55 p.m. found Cody Davontae Scott in the driver's seat with a gunshot wound; he crashed into a light pole and was taken to a hospital, where he died the following day.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner later identified him, noting the shooting and crash sequence that unfolded along East Berry near Edgewood Terrace.
Detectives quickly focused on a large dually pickup seen alongside the victim's vehicle. The driver was identified as 29-year-old Christopher Jerome Blanton Jr., a Fort Worth recording artist who performs as “C'ing Jerome” and “Mr. Hood Country.” According to an arrest affidavit summarized in local reporting, a front-seat passenger in Blanton's truck told investigators that Cody Davontae Scott's windows were so heavily tinted he could not be seen at the moment of the shooting, contradicting any immediate perception of a threat from within the car. Blanton told police he felt followed and fired; witnesses and other evidence described in the affidavit were said to undercut that claim.
Christopher Jerome Blanton Jr. was arrested and initially expected to face an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge; after Cody Davontae Scott, 32, died from his injuries, the case was upgraded to murder and Blanton was booked into the Tarrant County jail. Police did not immediately disclose a motive, and early reports did not indicate any prior relationship between the men. Coverage in the days that followed described a car-to-car shooting that left a young father dead and a community seeking answers.
In the aftermath, family and friends gathered near the stretch of East Berry Street to grieve, remembering Cody Davontae Scott, 32, for the life interrupted on a summer afternoon. Memorial pages and local tributes marked August 18–19 as the tragic span when a routine drive turned deadly and a family's future changed course. As detectives continued their work, the narrative that emerged—claims of self-defense, a disputed threat behind tinted glass, and the swift charge of murder—framed the search for resolution in a case that began with a single shot at a busy Fort Worth intersection.
