‘Justice for Carlos’: Evicted tenant sentenced in murder of employee at West 7th apartments

A tenant who shot and killed an employee during an argument over being evicted from his West 7th area apartment pleaded guilty Monday to murder, authorities said.

Devin Smith , 30, was sentenced by a Tarrant County district court judge to 31 years in prison.

On April 21, 2023, Smith started a heated argument with an employee in the leasing office at The Marq on West 7th apartments , at 701 Arch Adams Lane in Fort Worth, according to police and the district attorney’s office.

Carlos Aybar , a maintenance worker at the apartments, stepped in to try to defend his co-worker. Smith shot Aybar multiple times.

“He was my only son and you took his life without remorse,” Aybar’s mother, Rachel Canelon, said through a translator in court Monday morning, according to the district attorney’s office.

At the hearing, Canelon and other family members and friends wore T-shirts with a photo of her son and the words “Justice for Carlos.”

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During his five months as a resident at The Marq on West 7th, a series of complaints were made against Smith, including harassment, threats, drug use and loud music, the building’s management told police. An employee told police that Smith agreed to move out, but before that could happen, his dog bit two people, a detective wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit.

The bites were reported to the police, and on April 21, Smith returned home in the early evening and found on his door a notice left by the animal control division of the city code compliance department. He went to the building’s office and tried to speak with a leasing agent.

The agent told Smith she did not want to talk to him and was going to call the police. The agent was scared of Smith’s behavior and locked herself in a bathroom, Fort Worth Police Department Detective Joey McAnally wrote in the affidavit.

Smith was standing outside the bathroom door when Aybar arrived. From her position in the bathroom, the leasing agent believed Aybar was making progress getting Smith to leave and she opened the door. She saw Smith shoot Aybar and again locked herself in the room, she told police.

Smith went back to his apartment, where he was arrested, according to police.

Aybar “died a hero protecting his coworker. He left behind a beautiful 4-year-old son, a loving mother and extended family,” his family wrote on a GoFundMe page

This article includes information from the Star-Telegram’s archives.