Two Dead, Several Injured in Shooting at Fort Worth Dance Studio

Two people were killed and several others injured after a shooting outside a Texas dance studio during a party involving a group that the facility's owner said wasn't authorized to be there.

Fort Worth police said the shooting happened just after midnight Saturday in the parking lot of Studio 74 on East Lancaster Avenue near Beach Street. 

When officers arrived, they found one victim dead in the parking lot and several others wounded, Fort Worth police spokesman Daniel Segura said in a statement. The injured victims were transported to area hospitals. A second victim died at a hospital, according to police. 

Fort Worth police have identified the victims as 22-year-old Treavon Lewis and 18-year-old Jordan Larkin.

Police said in a statement Saturday afternoon that the shooters had fled the scene by the time officers arrived. [[384386971, C]]

Laura Reyna, owner and artistic director of the studio, called it an unauthorized event. She said she didn't even know the group of about 60 people was there until one of her instructors called her at 12:45 a.m. to report a commotion at the facility.

"I would consider it trespassing just for the fact that as the owner and operator of this facility I did not know, nor was there an exchange of any formal contract for people to be inside there," said Reyna, who has owned the facility for four years.

An employee of the facility, Jason Moore, was working at the time and said he used a towel to compress the chest of one of the victims, who later died right outside the front door of the studio.

"He got hit in the lungs, so there was no coming back for him," Moore said.

Moore said several members of the group were carrying guns and that he thought he heard shots fired inside as well. Reyna said Moore was unaware that the group wasn't supposed to be at the facility.

No one has been arrested and police do not know how many shooters were involved.

NBC 5 crews on scene counted more than a dozen shell casings on the ground outside the club. Some of the casings appeared to be shotgun shells. Some of those casings were also found across the street from the dance hall.

According to its website, Studio 74 is a nonprofit organization that teaches classes in hip-hop, ballet, break dancing, tumbling and more. The dance studio’s mission is to provide outreach and education programming to K-12th graders in Fort Worth by offering in-school and after-school programs and other opportunities.

Studio 74's Facebook page shows a calendar posted on Thursday showing the studio available for rentals on Friday. NBC 5 was told on the scene that the facility was rented out for an event.

According to the website, the group previously operated out of the city’s Thomas Place Community Center in the Arlington Heights neighborhood in Fort Worth.

Fort Worth Police say homicide detectives are investigating whether gangs were involved.

NBC 5's Tess Griesedieck contributed to this report.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us