Fort Worth detectives are searching for the gunman who killed a man during an altercation in the popular West 7th Entertainment District late Saturday night.
Fort Worth police provided an update on a deadly shooting that happened Saturday night in the West 7th entertainment area Monday afternoon.
Police have identified the suspect and issued a warrant for their arrest on a charge of murder.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
The laid-back Sunday brunch scene left no visible cues of what Fort Worth Police faced in the West 7th Entertainment District Saturday night. Officers responded to the 2900 block of Crockett Street around 10:15 p.m. after reports of a shooting in the area.
Investigators said when they arrived at the scene, they learned there was a fight between 29-year-old Bryson Rogers of Fort Worth and another man. During the dispute, the suspect pulled out a gun and shot Rogers multiple times before fleeing the scene.
Fort Worth Police said officers and medical personnel tried to save Rogers's life, but the man died from his injuries.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
CONCERN GROWS OVER VIOLENCE IN ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
Many of the patrons going out for a quiet patio lunch on Sunday said they were unaware of what occurred the previous night.
“It’s kind of shocking to hear that,” Andy Silos said. “That’s what we’re kind of experiencing here in Fort Worth now.”
Silos said he often visited West 7th at night but recently has opted for the entertainment district during the daytime.
Angel Estrada said he believes the area is safe overall but cited an increased sense of uncertainty around safety at night in one of the city’s most popular districts for bars and restaurants.
“Coming out here for nightlife, you can just come on edge sometimes because you never know,” Estrada said. “Before it used to be like, 'Hey let’s have a drink out here for a little bit.’ Now it’s like, ‘I don’t know if I want to go out there’.”
Fort Worth Police pivoted in September to what it calls a proactive model of trying to encounter guns and potential violent actors before something happens.
The move came after the murder of a TCU student in a random, unprovoked attack near West 7th on Sept. 1, 2023. That suspect was arrested.
Fort Worth homicide detectives were seen on Crockett Street on Sunday working to piece together more information about Saturday’s deadly shooting but had not announced if an arrest had been made.
CRIME PREVENTION EFFORTS IN THE W. 7TH ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
Emil Bragdon owns four establishments in the district and has three more opening in the coming months.
Bragdon is part of the West 7th Street Bar and Restaurant Association which meets monthly with police and city officials.
When it comes to recent death investigations in the popular entertainment district, Bragdon says no amount of police would have helped.
“There’s nothing we could’ve done to stop it,” said Bragdon. “We had a lot of police in the area, but the thing is when someone wants to do something evil to someone, you can’t stop it.”
The shooting Friday did not happen near Bragdon’s cluster of bars.
He said he spoke with other bar owners and said neither the victim nor the suspect in Saturday’s shooting had patronized any bars in the district prior to the confrontation.
NBC 5 asked the city and Bragdon when the public can expect to see ‘safety ambassadors’ walking the streets of W. 7th.
Until now, the city has said the unarmed ambassadors could be in place sometime in the spring.
When asked for specifics on a date, the city’s assistant manager Fernando Costa provided NBC 5 with the following information:
"The Crime Control and Prevention District (CCPD) board has allocated funds for a West Seventh ambassadors pilot project, subject to our receipt of a valid petition from property owners to establish a West Seventh Public Improvement District (PID) that would fund ambassador services on an ongoing basis. Our Economic Development Department has been facilitating the petition process, but the timing of this petition is directly dependent upon the efforts of Cultural District leaders and property owners. Once we receive the petition, the Fort Worth Police Department and our vendor, Block By Block, will be able to launch the ambassador pilot project within a few weeks. If we were to receive a valid petition by the end of this month, for instance, then the ambassador services could begin by early summer."
Bragdon tells NBC 5 that his understanding of the pilot program does not involve a petition from him and other property owners.
NBC 5 has asked the city to clarify what, if any miscommunication exists in the process.
We will update this article when clarification is provided.
