Fort Worth police still investigating two fatal shootings that occurred on brutal Tuesday

Authorities have identified a man who was fatally shot on what turned out to be a particularly brutal Tuesday in Fort Worth.

Javier Casillas, 34, address unknown, was shot twice in the upper body while in the 2000 block of East Lancaster Avenue shortly before 7 p.m. Seven police units responded to the shooting call, according to the Fort Worth Police Department call log.

Casillas, who was in critical condition when he was transported to a local hospital by emergency medical personnel Tuesday, died that night from high velocity gunshot wounds to the abdomen, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office. No suspects have been arrested, according to police.

Police reported that three people were shot Tuesday in two locations less than five miles apart and two of those people died. Police are also investigating a fatal shooting that occurred in the 4600 block of Shackleford Street just after midnight.

In that incident, one victim who was shot survived, but Alfredo Nieto, 19, was pronounced dead about 1 a.m. Tuesday after arriving at John Peter Smith Hospital. Nieto died from a gunshot wound to the torso, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office.

Police said they have not made any arrests in that case and an investigation is ongoing.

So far, it’s been a violent year in Fort Worth. Homicides are up about 19 percent in Fort Worth as of late June this year, but the rate has slowed since a spike over the first three months of the year, according to police statistics.

As of June 24, there had been 38 homicides in the city, up from 32 when compared to the same time period last year.

Fort Worth’s homicides increased 69 percent from January through March, rising from 13 to 22, according to Assistant Chief Kenneth Dean, who presented first-quarter crime statistics to the City Council in late June.

Sex offenses and aggravated assault also increased during the first three months, rising 24 percent and 15 percent, respectively, according to the statistics. In response, Fort Worth police formed a Violent Crime Task Force, deploying more officers in high-crime areas at night from Wednesday through Sunday.

The homicide rate remains higher than last year during that same time period, when there were 66 homicides.

“We may be up year-to-date, but it’s still in the range of how many we had in 2016,” Lt. Paula Fimbres, Fort Worth police spokeswoman, said at the time.

The numbers haven’t signified a trend yet, Fimbres said, though investigators believe several recent Fort Worth homicides have been drug-related.

This story contains information from the Star-Telegram archives.

Mitch Mitchell: 817-390-7752, @mitchmitchel3

This story was originally published August 3, 2017 at 6:55 PM with the headline "Fort Worth police still investigating two fatal shootings that occurred on brutal Tuesday."