Shooting after Como block party’s official end was at least the 7th in the area this year
The Lake Como neighborhood shooting that injured eight people in the wee hours of July 4 was at least the seventh reported shooting incident in the area this year, including one murder, according to data recorded by police and compiled by the Star-Telegram.
The Star-Telegram crime map shows five other shootings and one murder since Jan. 1, though that number could increase as more data from Fort Worth police becomes available. A police spokesman said he didn’t have information on the number of reported shootings in the neighborhood this year, instructing the Star-Telegram to submit an open records request for that information.
On April 30, Oscar Lavant Payton, 56, was found shot to death at the 3200 block of Bourine Street, according to police. His body was found in a grassy area near a roadway, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office website. Payton was found about two blocks east and two blocks north of the car wash where the July 4 Lake Como neighborhood shooting happened.
He’d been shot in the head and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s website.
Police said Carlus Qualls, 48, was charged with the murder after an arrest warrant affidavit said he admitted to police that he dragged Payton’s body out of his car. He told police another man in the back of his car was the one who shot Payton, according to the affidavit. But, based on a video obtained by detectives, there was no other person in his car that morning, according to the affidavit.
According to the county website, Qualls is still being held at the Tarrant County Jail with bond set at $175,000, with $150,000 of that coming from the murder charge and the rest relating to other charges.
According to the warrant, that area in west Fort Worth is desolate, there are no homes nearby, and it’s known as a dumping site.
Of the five other reports of shots fired included in the data, two happened on Horne Street near the intersections with Wellesley Avenue and Houghton Avenue. One happened near the intersection of Horne and West Vickery Boulevard and one occurred in the 5300 block of Goodman Avenue. Another happened in the 3000 block of Lake Como Drive.
Police offense reports located in four of the five shooting indicate at least two of the shootings resulted in property damage. It is unclear based on the offense reports if anybody was injured in those shootings.
Two other reports list victims and do not list property damage, but do not indicate if or how badly the listed victims were injured.
A June 20 shooting on Goodman Avenue and an April 19 incident on Lake Como Drive led to property damage, according to the offense reports.
A May 8 shooting on West Vickery Boulevard lists one victim as a 54-year-old man. Another May 8 shooting, this one in the 3400 block of Horne, lists two victims, one a 51-year-old man and the other a 48-year-old man.
It is unclear from the offense reports what happened at each of these shootings and police did not immediately respond to request for more information.
The Star-Telegram was unable to locate an offense report for an April 11 shooting near the intersection of Horne and Houghton.
Some residents in the area said the Sunday morning shooting that left eight injured, which occurred hours after the first-ever ComoFest on Saturday night, isn’t going to stop their Independence Day celebrations. They still feel safe and believe that as long as they do not stay out past the official end of events there is nothing to fear.
The 70th annual W.H. Wilburn 4th of July Lake Como Day Parade and Independence Day Celebration is still scheduled to take place starting at 9 a.m. Monday with speeches from community leaders.
This story was originally published July 4, 2021 at 7:44 PM.