‘That’s not our community.’ Como residents unite in strength following mass shooting
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Deadly shooting in west Fort Worth
Three people were killed and eight wounded late Monday when gunfire erupted in a Como parking lot following ComoFest, the west Fort Worth neighborhood’s annual Fourth of July celebration.
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Fort Worth’s Como neighborhood was a picture of celebration on the Fourth of July.
The fiery sun beat down on those who lined Horne Street with their lawn chairs to watch the 73rd annual parade breeze through.
Children ran toward floats as those on board arced Ziploc bags of candy toward the sidewalks. Music blared from every which way. Low riders, floats full of balloons and men on horses made their way down the block.
Less than 12 hours earlier, 11 people were gunned down in a parking lot on Horne Street following the neighborhood’s annual Fourth of July event, ComoFest. Three died of their injuries.
On July 3, 2021, eight people were shot in the neighborhood near a vacant car wash at the corner of Horne Street and Diaz Avenue. That car wash was torn down later that October, and the community showed up in droves to celebrate.
But residents in Como want you to know: What happened Monday evening isn’t their community, and Tuesday’s parade was a vision of strength.
The neighborhood, between Camp Bowie and Vickery boulevards southwest of Arlington Heights, once had a vibrant business district along Horne Street, and for decades was like its own small town within Fort Worth.
But like other older neighborhoods in the city, businesses began to close and people began to move away. In 2020, the City Council awarded the neighborhood $3.2 million to boost safety, aesthetics and private investment. At the time, the city credited the neighborhood’s leadership for advocating for the improvements.
Longtime residents are known for their activism to improve the neighborhood. In May, they successfully fought a proposed short-term rental. Besides the Fourth of July parade, there’s an Easter egg hunt and, in June, there was the inaugural Juneteenth pageant.
Darnell Johnson and Thomas Steptoe both sat under a canopy with matching purple and gold “COMO” hats as Tuesday’s parade reached its conclusion.
They didn’t hear about the mass shooting until early Tuesday.
“I wasn’t startled or surprised, I was more like, ‘Damn,’” Johnson said, adding that a nice event was destroyed.
ComoFest was created in 2021 as a way to create a safe environment for celebrating the Fourth of July in the community.
Steptoe said he hated to hear what happened, but wasn’t surprised given Como’s history on the Fourth of July.
“I hate people had to lose their lives over some silly, no-need-to-happen type of incidents, but it happened,” Steptoe said.
Steptoe wants to see the community get the police department more involved, though younger people are arguing against it, he said.
“The Fourth of July is for celebration,” Steptoe said. “It’s not a war.”
Despite Monday night’s tragedy, crowds lined up and down the street for the parade.
What keeps that spirit alive? The community strength, Johnson said.
“You have to just try to survive,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t stop because of things happening, but you have to at least acknowledge that those people lost their lives last night, and it’s a terrible situation.”
Steptoe agreed the community was strong, and that strength keeps Como from going “belly up.” He said the community needed to be aware of the changing times.
“This needs to stop,” Steptoe said.
Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes pointed out the resilience too.
“This was a great event last night. ComoFest went on without any major problems,” Noakes told the Star-Telegram. “And after that was over, we had some people that decided they want to do something like this and try to mar all of that. And luckily, you see here, Como, they didn’t let it.”
Tanya Thomas showed up to the parade in a bright purple shirt with a lion on it that read “Lake Como, TX. Ain’t no community like the one we got.” Her family has lived in the neighborhood for four generations, though she no longer lives here.
Those at the parade told the Star-Telegram they did not believe whoever caused the shooting was from the neighborhood. Police are investigating.
“We know that that’s not our community,” Thomas said. “We’re a loving community. We’re family. Everybody’s family.”
Resident Dorothy Dubose agreed.
“All the time, it has been folks that have come into our community, that is not a part of our community,” she said. “So that part is upsetting because we get a bad rap for being a friendly neighborhood and inviting everyone in and they don’t respect that hospitality.”
Tija Johnson and Tanga Franklin no longer live in the neighborhood, but they still have family here. Franklin told the Star-Telegram that usually when violence like this happens, it’s people from outside the community.
Franklin said violence is everywhere — not just Como.
On this year’s Fourth of the July alone, 10 people have been killed across the country. Five were killed in Philadelphia on Monday night. And in Baltimore early Sunday, two people were killed and 28 others injured at a neighborhood block party.
The ladies said they were going to pray more. But along with the power of prayer also comes the power of the law, and Franklin said laws like Texans being allowed to have guns without registering them aren’t helping.
Crowds cleared out by around noon Tuesday as the parade wrapped up.
A walk down the street, though, yielded more music pumping from speakers. There were still people sitting out in their yards intent on enjoying the rest of their holiday.
It was a picture of unwavering strength.
And that is Como’s story.
This story was originally published July 4, 2023 at 2:05 PM.
