A former TCU football player who spent time in the NFL before becoming an artist is out tens of thousands of dollars after his Fort Worth storage units were robbed.
Marshall Harris said some of the stolen items are irreplaceable memorabilia from his football career. Harris is now warning the community to keep their guard up.
Harris is a bit of a renaissance man: the 6’7 Fort Worth native was a star defensive lineman at TCU in the late 70s and played four seasons in the NFL.
But these days he’s known for his work as a studio artist specializing in hyper-realistic drawings.
“So the drawings are done life-size, they’re big pieces,” Harris said. “But I also do sculpture and all sorts of other building things.”
For years, he’s kept his art supplies in a pair of storage units near 6100 Bryant Irvin Road in Fort Worth.
Last week while out of town, he got a call from the Public Storage complex.
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“So all of my shop equipment and everything was in these two storage units,” Harris said. “And they got broken into.”
Harris said Public Storage told him that over the weekend of May 5, a group of suspects rented a unit to get access to the complex and broke into multiple storage units, loading everything into moving vans and driving off.
Between his art equipment and his family belongings, Harris said he’s now out tens of thousands of dollars – and the thieves also stole priceless memorabilia from his football career.
“Things like that you can’t put a value on, because they’re irreplaceable,” Harris said. “One of a kind.”
Harris filed a police report, and he’s trying to keep up a good attitude while the Fort Worth Police Department investigates.
“I look at it as the universe is giving me a message that I got too much stuff,” Harris said with a laugh. “And now somebody else has my stuff.”
But he’s also expressed concerns about security at the Public Storage facility in the wake of the burglary.
“Don’t take it for granted that these places are locked tight, because they’re not,” Harris said.
NBC 5 reached out to the Public Storage facility for a response to concerns about the complex’s security, and they directed us to their corporate office which hasn’t responded yet.
Fort Worth police told NBC5 they’ve been exploring potential leads.
“A possible suspect may be identified however, this is still a suspect case, so no further information can be provided unless an arrest is made,” said a spokesperson for Fort Worth PD.
