Fatal shootings rise in Fort Worth, prompting concern from victims of gun violence

Gun violence is on the rise in Fort Worth as the summer months approach.

Police data showed in the last 30 days, there have been eight homicides in the city – compared to one homicide in the month before.

On Thursday NBC 5 spoke with families impacted by the shootings and got answers from police about their plan to tackle gun violence.

Officials said for years, it’s been a national trend: as the weather got warmer, instances of gun violence tended to increase too.

Recent homicide reports from Fort Worth showed an uptick in fatal shootings.

In the 30-day period from May 7 to June 6, Fort Worth police said eight people were killed by gun violence, with five of those homicides coming in the past 10 days.

In the prior 30-day period from April 7 to May 6, one homicide was reported.

“I don’t feel like any of this should be happening. The families shouldn’t have to go through that, you know.

In early May, Mary Jane Gonzales’ apartment was shot into during the mass shooting that injured six on Las Vegas Trail, with four children among the victims.

Gonzales told NBC 5 that the recent rise in homicides in the city was a concern.

“It could happen anywhere,” Gonzales said. “And it’s a very traumatic experience.”

In a community forum in the Historic Northside on Thursday night, Fort Worth residents asked police about their strategy to take on gun violence this summer.

In response, the department said its enforcement plan has undergone changes in recent years.

“In the past, we’d go out there and we’d have a lot of police out there,” Assistant FWPD Chief Dave Carbajal said. “But then you stop the good people like the ones in this room as well.”

Police said rather than swarming neighborhoods with officers, their focus was to find the small number of offenders behind shootings.

To do that, they’ve begun relying more on technology like Flock license plate reading cameras, and five square miles of gunshot audio detectors deployed throughout the city that can alert officers to shootings.

“Flock, ShotSpotter, we want to be able to identify exactly where the incidents happened,” Carbajal said. “Cameras too, so we want to find out who’s actually committing the crime.”

A month after her nine-year-old son barely avoided being shot in the Las Vegas Trail mass shooting, Gonzales was awarded by her healthcare college for helping the victims, speaking during her graduation about the adversity she dealt with.

Her family is now moving outside Fort Worth due to concerns for her children.

“We’re going to get out of the city because again the situation really impacted us,” Gonzales said.

NBC 5 also looked at recent homicide data in Dallas. The numbers showed in the last 30 days, Dallas police reported 19 homicides.

In the 30-day period before that ranging from April 7-May 6, Dallas saw 19 reported homicides as well.