VIDEO: Arlington triple homicide suspect livestreamed after beating prison cellmate in 2021

The man who Arlington police say killed three people at an apartment complex in January used a cellphone while in a Texas prison to livestream himself on social media after beating up a cellmate in March of 2021, video obtained by Star-Telegram news partner WFAA-TV shows.

It is a third-degree felony to have a cellphone in a prison in Texas, which carries a punishment of two to 10 years. Although prison officials said they confiscated the cellphone from the suspect, Larry Reed, Reed did not have any time added to his sentence and he was released in December 2023.

Reed, 29, was serving an 11-year sentence for a 2012 murder when he allegedly livestreamed the video. Now, less than two months after he was released, he’s facing capital murder charges because police said he shot one victim, 31-year-old Dreyon Glenn, and then just kept shooting, killing two other people at an Arlington apartment in January.

The video obtained by WFAA shows Reed standing over his cellmate, who is on the ground apparently in pain as Reed gloats. The circumstances of the beating aren’t known but it is clear that the video was being streamed on Facebook from a prison cell. Reed picks up the phone and his face is seen for a moment before the stream ends.

It’s unknown how Reed got the phone. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told the Star-Telegram in an email that it issued an administrative discipline and referred the case to the Office of the Inspector General, which would be responsible for filing any criminal charges against Reed.

Paula Johnson, the mother of Shannen Oshay Jones, who was killed in the January Arlington shooting, told the Star-Telegram she saw the video and told police about it. Some children in the neighborhood showed it to her after the shooting.

“I was disgusted,” Johnson said. “This was on Facebook and it clearly shows his face.”

She can’t understand how Reed was allowed out of prison after that video was shared online.

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A TDCJ official told WFAA that the agency did its own investigation after the fight and found Reed had a contraband cellphone in his possession. The investigation was handed over to the Office of the Inspector General, which prepares cases for the Special Prosecution Unit within the department.

A representative from the SPU told WFAA that it never received a case involving Reed while he was in prison, meaning the case was never opened by the OIG or it was never completed and passed along to prosecutors. Had the case been prosecuted, Reed’s release in December may have been delayed.

Cher Siegelin, who has 17 years of experience as a TDCJ correctional officer and represents correctional officers in a statewide union, told WFAA that inmates are allowed access to tablets while incarcerated but they are controlled and the tablets cannot access the internet. They are primarily used to talk to family and in vocational programs.

“There’s no social media access and no internet,” Siegelin said. “Just seeing the content of that video makes my stomach lurch. Somehow, someway, the ball was dropped here.”

Siegelin told WFAA the video had sufficient evidence to add years to Reed’s sentence before his release and that an opportunity was missed.

“I think there’s more that could be done, that should have been done,” Siegelin said. “These families should not have to deal with that. I mean, he’s bragging about it on social media. That’s a black eye for the agency. This is something that everybody is seeing, and you’ve lost control.”

Hundreds of phones were found in state prisons last year. A TDCJ spokesperson told the Star-Telegram in an email that it “conducted a statewide lockdown for comprehensive searches of all units” looking for cellphones and found 548 contraband phones and 713 “cellphone accessories.”

The TDCJ says online during the October 2023 statewide lockdown it also confiscated, among other things:

• 587 weapons (primarily objects sharpened with a fashioned handle);

• 74.5 gallons of alcohol;

• $576 in cash;

• 564 other dangerous items including tablets, lighters, tattoo guns, pills, handcuff keys and drug paraphernalia.

The triple homicide

Reed was arrested in Mississippi on Feb. 6 after he was found hiding in an attic near Greenville, according to Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Richard Upchurch.

Arlington police spokesperson Sgt. Courtney White said detectives received a tip from a caller that pointed them in the direction of Reed, and further investigation connected him to the Jan. 25 shooting. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the tipster told police that Reed, also known as “Crip,” shot one of the victims, Glenn, in the leg over a disagreement and then continued to shoot everyone else in that apartment. Further details of that witness’ statement were redacted from the warrant released by police.

The motive for the killings is still under investigation but detectives believe that Reed knew Glenn, White said. He was the first victim to be shot, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Arlington police officers responded to the recent triple homicide at the Chatham Green Village apartment complex in the 3500 block of Chatham Green Lane the night of Jan. 25. They first found a 29-year-old man who had been shot outside an apartment. That victim, identified as Jones by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers entered the apartment to conduct an emergency sweep and found a 29-year-old woman also dead at the scene. The medical examiner identified her as Monique Elaine Smith, and said she died from a gunshot wound to the neck.

Glenn was also found inside the apartment. He was shot multiple times, according to the medical examiner. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

In 2014, Reed pleaded guilty to the June 2012 murder of 18-year-old Obeth Hernandez in a shooting outside a house party in the 1600 block of Geraldine Lane in Arlington, according to Tarrant County court records.

Investigators learned that two young men, including an 18-year-old, got into a fight at the 2012 party. Their friends got involved, and the altercation spilled into the front yard. The 18-year-old handed his gun to Reed, who fired multiple shots, according to police records.

Hernandez was fatally shot in the chest. A 21-year-old was wounded but survived. Reed and the 18-year-old were arrested and charged with murder, police records show. Reed, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, waived his right to a jury trial and was sentenced to 11 years. He had served about nine years when he was released early, on Dec. 11, 2023.