DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson vowed Tuesday that the person responsible for this past weekend’s deadly shooting in rural southeast Oak Cliff will be caught and brought to justice.
“Situations like this past weekend are deeply upsetting to me.”
One person was killed and 16 others were hurt when shots rang out around 11:30 p.m. Saturday at the Epic Easter Bike Out and Field Party.
Mayor Johnson said he believes the City Council’s Public Safety Committee should take a closer look into the permitting of the event.
Police Chief Eddie Garcia said Monday event organizers needed to obtain a special permit but didn’t. There were off-duty police officers providing security for the event, but now, effective immediately, the Chief isn’t allowing officers to do that unless the events obtain a permit.
Johnson praised that decision.
“He’s already made — I think — a smart policy change. But we’re going to look at whether or not we need to create new types of permits, whether or not this situation could have been avoided in any way from the city’s standpoint. I’m going to encourage the City Manager and City Attorney to work with the Chief very meticulously to come up with responses, legal responses to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Dallas Police Department records show overall, crimes against people are down by 9.3% between January 1 through April 3 in 2022 from the same period in 2021. The number of assaults, sex offenses, and robberies are all down from last year, while the number of homicides is up slightly.
This weekend’s shooting made national headlines.
“That is going to get attention,” said Johnson. “But people need to understand that is not really reflective of the overall trend in violent crime in the city, which is down and down considerably. Just know we are on it, and we’re going to find this person and bring him to justice and we are not going to let up when it comes to reducing violent crime in this city.”
During Tuesday’s interview, the mayor also spoke about his trip last week to Mexico City and Monterrey, Dallas’ sister city. “I wanted to send the message that we are open for business, that we are ready to re-engage with our partners around the world.”
Johnson said Mexico and the North Texas region conduct $1.5 billion in trade each year and called Mexico a strong and balanced trading partner.
He said he wants to increase the number of flights between Mexico and DFW International Airport and build on the region’s strong foundation of tourism and trade with Mexico.
“Of all the Mexican investment in the entire United States, in terms of direct foreign investment, 35% of it is anchored or headquartered or has the principal office in North Texas, so that’s real jobs for real North Texans and Dallasites.”
He said that investment will help North Texas grow even further.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to contact Homicide Unit Detective Christopher Anderson at 214-671-3616 or via email.