Dallas Police Chief David Brown defended his violent crime plan Monday after five people were shot Sunday night, one of them killed.
The night of gun violence came in the Pleasant Grove area of southeast Dallas.
Charged with murder Monday was 20-year-old Danny Evelio Cruz. Police said Cruz confessed to killing 30-year-old Jose Nicolas Olivas Jr. in a dispute over a woman, and also admitted wounding a relative of the woman. An arson fire at Olivas' home Monday morning could also be linked to Cruz, police said.
Two other people were wounded by gunfire at a convenience store on Bruton Road and St. Augustine, and another person was wounded at the Mirasol Apartments in the 1200 block of Masters Drive.
Dallas City Councilwoman Tiffinni Young said she is concerned Pleasant Grove has been overlooked by police.
"I want to make sure that if that is an area that we want to have our Violent Crimes Task Force focused on," she said. "We want to make sure that that happens."
Dallas police arrested a woman Monday morning following a shooting – the city's sixth is less than a day – in South Dallas.
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Sudedra Dunning, 51, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly shooting her boyfriend, 48-year-old Dean Paden. Paden was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.
Dallas police reassigned officers to task forces focused on arresting domestic violence and drug suspects in northeast and southern Dallas this year after a spike in murder and aggravated assault.
Chief Brown said the Sunday night crimes followed the trend on that type of crime, but in a different location.
"We are quickly analyzing where we need to move our deployment strategy, but it's fast changing, very fluid," Brown said. "But it is exactly what we've been seeing for the first quarter of the year."
Young said her home and car were recent burglary targets and she is not yet convinced the chief's crime strategy will be successful.
"My level of comfort is probably in the middle. I'm not completely sold yet. I'm hopeful," Young said.
Brown said the violent crime strategy is already showing results, despite the five shootings Sunday night.
"Since our deployment strategy started at the start of March, violent crime is down 10 percent. We're making progress. Not enough. We're not satisfied with this type of violence in the city. We're dedicating all of our resources to address this," Brown said.
The chief said his goal is to maintain the very low crime rate Dallas has achieved in recent years.
