‘Criminal or hero’: Family claims Fort Worth man shot in the groin to protect nieces

In a report for FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, Vania Castillo laid out a case that was already tense on its face, but became even more complicated once the family of the accused man started telling their side.

According to Castillo’s report, 33-year-old Marckus Renfro is sitting in the Tarrant County Jail after allegedly shooting another man in the groin in Fort Worth. But his relatives insist this was not some random burst of violence. They say Renfro acted because he believed underage girls in the neighborhood, including his own nieces, were being approached by a man trying to solicit them for sex.

That is the claim driving this entire story, and it is why emotions around the case are running so high. To police, at least for now, this remains an active investigation with unanswered questions. To Renfro’s family, the answer already seems obvious.

Castillo reported from the scene that the family does not believe Renfro belongs behind bars at all. In their eyes, he stepped into a dangerous situation that adults should never ignore, especially when children are involved.

That sharp divide is what makes this case so difficult. One side sees a jailed shooting suspect. The other sees a man who did what others were too scared, too slow, or too unwilling to do.

What the Family Says Happened

Castillo’s report leaned heavily on the words of the people closest to Renfro, especially his brother-in-law, Dontavius Williams, and his wife, Jamie Ramirez Renfro.

Williams told FOX 4 that he noticed something was wrong when he saw commotion involving younger relatives. According to Castillo, he said his little cousin told him that the man had said, “Oh, come back and smoke some meth with me,” and offered drugs.

That allegation is disturbing on its own. It becomes even more alarming when placed next to the family’s broader claim that this was not the first time the same man had been accused, at least informally within the neighborhood, of bothering children.

Williams told Castillo they had already heard that “a certain dude had been messing with other little kids around here.” That is not a police finding. It is the family’s account. Still, it helps explain why the situation may have felt explosive long before the gunshot.

According to Vania Castillo’s reporting, the family says Renfro then stepped in.

Jamie Ramirez Renfro told FOX 4 that words were exchanged, and that when Marckus was walking away, the other man “ran up on him,” as if he were trying to hurt him. She described the confrontation as one that turned physical and threatening very fast.

Then, as Castillo reported, officers arrived and heard a gunshot.

Jamie told the station that the man said something to Marckus, turned around, and then Marckus fired. Police later found a man matching the suspect description with a gunshot wound to the groin.

What Police Have Confirmed – And What They Have Not

Fort Worth police have confirmed only parts of the event, and that distinction matters.

Castillo made clear in her report that police have not confirmed the family’s version of what led up to the shooting. They have not publicly backed the claim that the wounded man had been soliciting underage girls for sex, nor have they confirmed that Renfro acted in direct defense of minors.

What police have said, according to the FOX 4 report, is that officers had been called earlier Friday morning to the 3700 block of Century Place after getting reports of a man who was possibly under the influence and soliciting children for sex.

That detail is important because it shows there had already been concern in the area before the shooting happened. Even so, that still does not settle what took place in the final confrontation between Renfro and the man who was shot.

Police say the wounded man was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.

Castillo also reported that, at least at the time of the report, it was not clear whether that man would face charges himself. That leaves one of the biggest blanks in the case still wide open.

Meanwhile, Renfro was taken into custody. Online jail records, Castillo noted, showed he also had a warrant from another town, though the report did not suggest that warrant was the central reason for the current case drawing attention.

A Family That Sees Protection, Not Murderous Intent

For the family, this is not a murky legal puzzle. They speak about it with a kind of moral certainty that comes through strongly in Castillo’s report.

Jamie Ramirez Renfro told FOX 4 that she does not believe her husband should have been arrested. In her view, if a man is approaching minors and soliciting them for sex, that is enough to define the danger in plain terms.

Her wording was blunt. She told Castillo, “Don’t think he should have been arrested, because if a man’s going to approach a minor for soliciting for sex, to me, that’s a pedophile.”

That line captures the emotional core of the family’s case. They are not speaking in careful, legal language. They are speaking like people who believe children were threatened and somebody finally acted.

Jamie, who Castillo reported is 24 weeks pregnant, also said the damage from a situation like this does not end in the moment. She said children are traumatized by these kinds of encounters, and that the effects can stay with them for the rest of their lives.

That point is hard to dismiss. Even when no physical injury occurs, the fear and confusion created by adults preying on children can leave a long shadow. In that sense, the shooting story sits on top of another story – the one about how vulnerable children are when danger moves close to home.

Jamie added something else that gave the report a more personal, painful edge. She told Castillo she had gone through something similar when she was younger and wished someone had stepped up for her the way Marckus stepped up for the girls.

That kind of statement does not prove what happened on the street that day. But it does explain why, for this family, the issue feels bigger than one gunshot and one arrest.

The Brother-in-Law’s Warning

Dontavius Williams gave FOX 4 some of the report’s most direct street-level language, and it helped underline how raw this case still is for the people around it.

He told Castillo that “dude said the wrong thing and consequences came behind that.”

It is a rough statement, but it reflects a neighborhood mindset that surfaces in a lot of these stories. When people believe children are being targeted and that the danger is close, patience tends to evaporate. Fear turns into anger fast.

Williams also offered a warning to other parents and guardians, telling people to keep a close eye on their kids because “it’s predator everywhere.”

That line may not be polished, but it sticks because it comes from the same place the rest of the family’s comments do – not from courtroom caution, but from alarm. The family seems convinced that whatever legal trouble Renfro now faces, the deeper problem started with an adult man allegedly saying and doing things around minors that should never have happened in the first place.

There is something gripping about cases like this because they force people into an uncomfortable space. A lot of people say they want someone to step in when children are in danger. But once that intervention turns violent, the praise and the criticism arrive at the same time.

That tension is all over Castillo’s report.

The Investigation Is Still Filling In the Blanks

By the end of the FOX 4 segment, Vania Castillo emphasized that investigators are still working to determine exactly what happened.

That is where the case stands for now. Renfro remains in the Tarrant County Jail, and Castillo reported that no bond had been set at the time. Police are still piecing together the facts, and key parts of the family’s account remain unconfirmed by law enforcement.

So this story is not finished. Not even close.

What exists right now are two competing frames. In one, Marckus Renfro is a man who shot someone and now has to answer for it. In the other, he is a relative who saw danger closing in around underage girls and decided he could not stand aside.

Castillo did not try to force those two versions into a neat answer, and that was probably the right call. The facts are still being built.

But the reason this story is drawing so much attention is easy to understand. It hits at one of the most combustible questions any community can face: what happens when someone believes children are in danger, and the person who steps in ends up behind bars?

For now, Fort Worth police are still sorting through that question. Renfro’s family, on the other hand, seems to believe they already know the answer.