Karri Kartik Viswanath Jr., a 32-year-old man from Arlington, Texas, died after an early-morning shooting on Sunday, March 29, 2026. Police said the violence began around 4:29 a.m. at an event venue in the 1200 block of California Lane, where a physical fight broke out and then spilled into gunfire outside the business. When Arlington officers arrived, they found multiple shell casings in front of the venue, but Viswanath had already been rushed away from the scene by friends.
A short
time later, staff at Medical City Arlington alerted police that Viswanath had arrived at the emergency room with a gunshot wound. Investigators determined he had come from the California Lane shooting scene. Despite being taken to the hospital quickly, he was later pronounced dead from his injuries. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office identified him as Karri Kartik Viswanath, and his funeral home obituary remembered him as “Nookie G,” someone known for warmth, humor, kindness, fishing, reading, and his love for his nieces and nephews.
In the first hours after the shooting, police described the case as an active homicide investigation and said detectives were still working to identify the shooter. Witnesses told investigators that a fight had taken place at the venue before shots were fired. At that stage, no arrests had been made, and police asked the public for information.
The investigation later focused on 28-year-old Xavier Jones. According to Arlington police, witnesses said Jones and Viswanath had been involved in a physical fight inside the event venue, which led private security to begin clearing out the space. Not long afterward, multiple shots were fired outside. Witnesses reported seeing Jones get into a vehicle after the shooting and drive away from the scene.
Detectives also received additional information from another witness who said they saw Jones holding a gun shortly before the shooting. Police said that witness also alerted investigators to a video that had surfaced online, which appeared to show Jones going to his vehicle, retrieving an object, making a racking motion consistent with a firearm, and then walking toward the area where the shooting happened moments before gunfire erupted.
On April 23, 2026, the U.S. Marshals Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force located Jones in the Panama City, Florida area and took him into custody without incident. Arlington homicide detectives had obtained a warrant charging him with one count of murder in Viswanath’s death. After his arrest, Jones was held in the Bay County Jail in Florida while awaiting extradition back to Tarrant County, Texas.
As of the latest available reports, Jones had been arrested and charged with murder, but no trial outcome or conviction had been reported. The case stands as a homicide that began with a fight at an Arlington event venue and ended with Viswanath fatally shot, his friends rushing him to the hospital, and investigators later tracking the accused suspect across state lines to Florida.
