Shooting during party at Fort Worth park reminds some of gang violence 30 years ago
People used to call the city of Fort Worth, “Murder Worth,” said Jesse Taylor, a local community activist.
A shooting that occurred Sunday at Village Creek Park wounded five people and brought back memories of three decades ago, when gangs ruled the streets in parts of south Fort Worth and there was a funeral, sometimes more than one, every week, Taylor said.
“Our children are not living a life,” Taylor said. “They are living a lifestyle and the lifestyle they are emulating is killing them.”
Two people were critically wounded and three suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting at a party about 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Village Creek Park, where hundreds of people were in attendance, police said.
Melinda Hamilton, a longtime community activist who lives less than three miles away from the park, said the people who live there must begin to take back their communities.
Hamilton is no stranger to loss, having lost a daughter, a grandson and a brother to gun violence.
Hamilton said she almost lost her 18-year-old cousin on Sunday, after he was shot in the leg during the Mother’s Day violence at Village Creek Park.
“Enough is enough,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got to start taking care of our communities like we used to. A lot of these pastors come through, but they don’t do anything.”
Some parents are afraid of their own children, Hamilton said. This is an election year and the candidates who are running for office need to start speaking about this issue and what they are going to do about it, Hamilton said.
Hamilton said she was told that police took her injured cousin and his friend to JPS Hospital in the back seat of their patrol car. The friend maintained pressure on her cousin’s wound to slow the bleeding during the trip to the hospital, Hamilton said
“An equivalent amount of money being spent on political campaigns needs to be spent on keeping our children alive,” she said.
Witnesses said they heard about 30 rounds of gunfire, police said. No arrests had been made as of Monday. The Fort Worth Police Department Gang Unit is investigating what led to the shooting and trying to identify suspects.
The crowd had gathered in the park despite local and state government orders discouraging large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. Police on Sunday estimated the crowd size as about 600 people. In a statement Monday, police said there were more than 400 people.
“We’ve tried to work with everybody to try not to cite them or ticket them, but ultimately people have a choice, and that’s just the choice they made tonight,” said Fort Worth Officer Buddy Calzada, a police spokesman. “Our job as the police is to investigate exactly what all took place here from beginning to end.”
About 5:45 p.m. officers began responding to suspected city ordinance violations, such as people riding all terrain vehicles and drinking alcohol in the city park while attempting to disperse the growing crowd. Police asked the crowd, estimated at over 400 people, to disperse.
There were about five Fort Worth officers in the park in marked police vehicles, and some were using their public address systems and sirens to encourage the crowd to go somewhere else, police said in a news release. A police supervisor repeatedly ordered the crowd to leave the park using his public address system, the release said.
Numerous gunshots were fired and many ran, a scene captured by a police vehicle dashboard camera recording system, the release said. Officers quickly ran to the aid of those wounded and summoned emergency medical attention while other officers began searching for those involved, police said.
Police didn’t release the ages of the victims. MedStar said they were all adults. Witnesses and neighbors said many in the crowd appeared to be teens or young adults, some of whom were playing with water guns.
On Monday, strewn debris left at the park during the melee stuck out like fresh scars on skin. Hats, tennis shoes, a baby stroller and a bicycle were apparently orphaned in the chaos. Yellow evidence markers pinpointed blood-stained clumps of grass, and discarded blue latex gloves tinged in blood glowed purple in the sunlight.
Dennis Dunkins, who lives just a few blocks from the park, said it’s normal for between 150 and 200 young people to gather at the park on Sunday, but 600 is not normal. The number of teens is what made him stop watching “60 Minutes” and walk outside to see what all the commotion was about, said Dunkins, a former Fort Worth school district administrator.
“This is a great neighborhood,” Dunkins said. “There were a lot of good kids here. It was only a couple of knuckleheads that likely caused all the trouble.”
One of the big problems is that people care more about money than they do about the lives of their children, said Richard Vasquez, a community activist. Parents are saying teens 16 and 17 do what they want, Vasquez said. Parents have to pay closer attention, he said.
“A shooting on Mother’s Day is not supposed to happen,” Vasquez said. “The problem is parents have no idea what their children are doing.”
The Fort Worth Police Gang Unit is continuing to investigate and all five shooting victims are expected to recover. Anyone with information concerning this incident is encouraged to contact police at 817-392-4222 or contact Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477.
Another shooting was reported about 7 p.m. Sunday at a convenience store in the 4200 block of Miller Avenue less than a mile away from the park, and police said they were investigating whether the two incidents were related. A caller reported that an employee of the store was shot in the hand, according to a police incident report.
“The department would like to reassure the community that we are working diligently to ensure the investigation is concluded as expeditiously as possible while maintaining the integrity of the investigative process,” police said in a news release. “Additionally, FWPD is working closely with members of the community to ensure those responsible are held accountable.”
Staff writer Kaley Johnson contributed to this report.
This story includes information from Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 4:49 PM.
