Richardson Man Turns Himself In After Shooting Leaves Victim Critical

Ladarious Devonta Wheeler, 33, was fighting for his life in a local hospital after a midday shooting at one of Richardson's busiest intersections left him critically wounded and sent the suspected gunman running before he ultimately turned himself in to police.

Officers responded at approximately 2 p.m. to a reported shooting at the intersection of W. Spring Valley Road and S. Coit Road. Witnesses reported seeing the suspect, later identified as 25-year-old Erick Lajuane Foster II, running toward Wheeler before catching up with him and discharging a firearm multiple times, striking him. Foster fled the scene but later turned himself in to Richardson Police. Wheeler was transported to a local hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

Richardson police charged Foster with aggravated assault for the shooting. The Richardson Police Department announced the arrest in a March 19 news post, one day after the incident.

One person was hospitalized following the shooting near the intersection of Coit and Spring Valley roads; the suspect had initially remained at large, though Richardson police indicated they had identified a person of interest. That person of interest turned out to be Foster, who surrendered on his own. No mugshot has been released by police, and investigators have not disclosed a motive.

The midafternoon shooting at the corner of W. Spring Valley Road and S. Coit Road, a heavily trafficked stretch running through the heart of Richardson, drew a significant law enforcement presence. Officers, detectives, and crime scene personnel remained on location actively conducting the investigation. Traffic was detoured through the area while police worked the scene.

The violence on that stretch of road did not end there. In a separate incident hours later, officers were called to the parking lot of the Waffle House at 120 W. Spring Valley Road shortly after 12:40 a.m. on March 19. Witnesses called 9-1-1 to report a large group gathered outside, a fight that broke out, and then gunfire. One person was found with a gunshot wound and transported to a hospital in stable condition. The group scattered before officers arrived, and the second shooting remains under investigation with no arrests announced.

The investigation into the Foster case is ongoing. Wheeler's condition, as of the most recent reports, had not improved from critical. No court date or bond information for Foster has been publicly released.