Jessie Joe Fitchett, the 25-year-old San Angelo man who gunned down two males at the intersection of Martin Luther King Dr. and W. 13th St. early Saturday morning spent time in prison for felony amed robbery in Detroit, MI in 2005. In San Angelo, Fitchett had an active criminal record in Tom Green County in 2012 but stayed out of trouble since then.
According to Michigan authorities and confirmed by San Angelo Police Chief TIm Vasquez, Firtchett was sentenced to five to 20 years in the Michigan penitentiary for an armed robbery in Detroit. The date of the incident was May 25, 2005. He was sentenced on Oct. 7, 2005.
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On his Facebook page, Fitchett indicated that he was a member of the class of 2006 at Chadsey High School in Detroit.
According to Tom Green County criminal court records, Fitchett’s run-ins with the law around here began on February 25, 2012.
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On that day, Fitchett was charged with a Class B Misdemeanor for assault that caused bodily injury. For his guilty plea, he was sentenced to 120 days in the Tom Green County Jail plus an additional seven days to pay the $347 in court costs.
He was arrested again for marijuana possession on Aug. 21, 2012. During the court proceedings in Judge Penny Roberts courtroom, records indicate that Fitchett failed to completely fill out an application for a court-appointed attorney and waived his rights to legal counsel. He was sentenced to 120 days in the Tom Green County Jail and fined $297. Judge Roberts sentenced Fitchett another six days in jail as a means to pay the fine. His driver’s license was also suspended for six months.
Court records do not indicate that both sentences were served concurrently. Because both cases have the same trial date and start date of his jail term of Sept. 25, 2012, it appears that Fitchett was out on bail awaiting trial for the assault charges when he was arrested and charged with drug possession in Aug. 2012.
Police said that early Saturday morning Fitchett gunned down two males near Richard’s Bar on Martin Luther King Dr. during an altercation. A third male was injured. Two died in the incident.
A manhunt ensued to find the gunman until police found Fitchett a few blocks away.
Fitchett was a lone gunman in a standoff with the San Angelo Police SWAT team Saturday afternoon. Fitchett barricaded himself inside a house just north of downtown San Angelo. The standoff started at 1 p.m. and by 3:30 p.m. police entered the building and found Fitchett’s dead body. Police said he killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Updated 2:40 p.m.
Added additional information about Fitchett's 2005 armed robbery conviction and prison sentence in Detroit, MI. Also added information from Fitchett's publicly-available information on his Facebook profile.
More coverage:
An eyewitness account of a Richard's Bar patron on audio before and after the shooting.
Richard's Bar owner recounts the San Angelo shooting Saturday morning.
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