Texas tattoo shop boss fires employee, then kills him in argument over final paycheck, police say

The owner of a Texas tattoo shop on Tuesday fired an employee, who refused to leave the parlor, according to the Arlington Police Department, then shot him to death in an argument over his final paycheck.

Javier “Big Dawg” Arredondo, a 42-year-old artist and entrepreneur, fired the unidentified 46-year-old man Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Arredondo terminated the victim due to an incident that happened a week earlier, according to police documents obtained by Fox News Digital. His name is being withheld pending the official release from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The victim wouldn’t leave, according to authorities, and amid a heated argument, Arredondo had everyone else leave the shop. Three witnesses told police that the victim had become upset and aggressive before they left. They’d barely gotten outside when police say the witnesses heard three gunshots — at least one of which struck the victim in the head.

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The shop appeared to have reopened by Thursday, when a woman who answered the phone hung up on a reporter. Minutes earlier, one artist there advertised on Facebook that she had “some time today for some smaller tattoos and consultations.”

Arredondo himself called 911, asking for police to remove the man before the shooting, authorities said. But while Arlington Police Headquarters is just three blocks away, the shooting took place before they arrived.

Arredondo remained on scene. Investigators said the victim was unarmed and that they did not find evidence that “he attempted to physically assault Mr. Arredondo.”

He allegedly told responding officers that he was “in fear” of what the fired employee would do to him, according to a probable cause affidavit, but was unable to provide any legal basis to excuse a lethal response. 

Arredondo told police that he had agreed to pay the victim on Friday, but the argument continued to escalate, until the unnamed man “became more aggressive, began shaking the display case and knocking items off the counter.”

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“Arredondo felt in fear that [redacted] would harm him,” the affidavit continues. “Arrendondo decided to draw his firearm and shoot [redacted] three times.”

However, the business owner also told police the victim hadn’t made any threats, shown a weapon or made any physical contact with him, according to the filing.

Arredondo was being held at the Tarrant County Corrections Center on $100,000 bond. He faces a single charge of murder.

Read the arrest warrant (Mobile users go here)

Originally from Laredo, Arredondo grew up in Chicago and returned to Texas in 1998, according to a bio posted to the shop’s website. 

In 2000, his brother got out of prison, “So they reunite and start getting in to some crazy s—,” the bio continues.

That’s when Arredondo got into tattooing: “Javier would tattoo the homies while they would smoke weed, drink 40’s and hang with females.”