Man Has Friend Shoot Him For Child Custody

DALLAS – A Dallas man died while executing a twisted plot to win custody of his child, Dallas police said.

According to investigators, 20-year-old Dwayne Lamont Moten hired a friend to shoot him, intending to blame the crime on his wife’s boyfriend and gain custody of his 3-year-old son, Dwayne Jr.

“[This] was two individuals trying to frame a third individual,” Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse said.

Janse said the plan was that Jacob Wheeler, also 20, would shoot Moten but only injure him.

However, the bullets that struck Moten on Saturday mortally wounded the forlorn father.

He was actually planning on shooting him in the thigh and shoulder,” Dallas homicide SGT. Bruce McDonald said. “I don’t know if [Moten] flinched and turned sideways a little more. The bullet entered the chest cavity and was fatal.”

“He drove a short distance before he realized he was shot a little worse than he had planned and got out of his car, and was screaming for help,” Janse said.

Witness Michael Brown said he did what he could to help.

“Only thing we seen was this young man stopped in the middle of the street, and he got out hollering, ‘Man, I been shot. Somebody help me,'” Brown said. “When he hit the ground there was no more conversation going.”

Moten soon died from his injuries.

Wheeler is charged with murder and for an unrelated aggravated robbery charge. He remains in jail on a $750,000 bond.

Police said both Moten and Wheeler had a criminal history and had been convicted of felonies.

“There’s legal ways to get custody of a child and taking a bullet, and ultimately dying, is definitely not one of those ways,” Janse said.