Man who drove from Georgia to ambush and kill his highly respected father in Fort Worth gets life sentence, prosecutors say

A Tarrant County jury sentenced a man to life in prison after he admitted driving from Georgia to Fort Worth to fatally shoot his father in a planned attack captured on home surveillance video, prosecutors said.

Xavier General Bass, 29, received the sentence after pleading guilty to murdering Gene Bass, a highly respected 54-year-old retired U.S. Army master sergeant and Crowley ISD JROTC instructor, according to the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said Xavier Bass spent months planning the ambush, then drove more than 900 miles from Valdosta, Georgia, to his father's Fort Worth home, where he opened fire and chased him as he tried to flee.

Xavier Bass shot Gene Bass 12 times – including two rounds to the head – in the front yard of the home on Chesapeake Bay Drive in far southwest Fort Worth before driving back to Georgia, where he was arrested the next day, authorities said.

Surveillance cameras at the home captured the entire incident, and a landscaping crew also witnessed it, police said.

According to an affidavit, Xavier Bass told his girlfriend a few weeks before the shooting that he needed to drive to Texas, and she would hear why on the news. She stopped him from going at that time, but he later called Gene Bass and said he was coming to visit without explaining why.

The girlfriend also told police that "when he (Xavier Bass) was growing up, he felt his dad could have made things better and not left him with his mom to struggle," according to the affidavit.

At the time, Crowley ISD said Gene Bass worked with cadets from every middle school and high school campus and described him as a "beloved" and "treasured" member of their community.

"This is an incredibly sad time for all of us, especially those who knew MSGT Bass as an instructor and friend," the district said in a statement. "He was an outstanding educator and colleague, and he touched the lives of countless students and staff."

CBS News Texas will provide updates if additional information becomes available.