Residents of a North Dallas neighborhood Friday said the city’s reported crime reduction has not occurred in their area.
It is a group of older apartments along McCallum Boulevard between Hillcrest and Coit.
A violent crime occurred Friday as NBC 5 was in the neighborhood investigating the neighbor complaints.
A marked police unit raced up McCallum heading to an active shooter call.
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A man said he’d been fired on in broad daylight on McCallum by a person who ran away.
Resident Jacob Norris who lives nearby said he heard the shooting.
“I was just walking down the sidewalk, I heard a gunshot,” Norris said.
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Imtiaz Rashid who lives in one of the complexes contacted NBC 5 about the crime problems.
“I don't feel safe here so, I'm moving out,” he said.
Rashid said his car was stolen in February and he immediately called 911 as he watch it leaving his complex.
His insurance company said the vehicle had been totaled when it was recovered, smashed and wreaking of alcohol after an apparent joy ride by thieves.
Rashid admitted he left the car unlocked for a moment and said someone was apparently watching him at the time.
He also said there was a homicide in an adjacent complex and that his wife was followed by a threatening individual recently.
“It’s not safe anymore here,” Rashid said.
Resident Dylan Verdot at the scene of Friday’s shooting incident said he has encountered other problems before.
“One of my neighbors, he had got shot in the chest right here, and I was the first person there,” Verdot said. “You just kind of have to keep it real. You don't want to be caught on the wrong side with the wrong people you know.”
For the month of February, 43 crime reports are on file with Dallas Police, 26 of them for the 7700 block of McCallum.
Verdot said the number may be even higher because police don’t make it to all the incidents they report.
Some people blame bad tenants, but also outsiders who do not live there.
“It's got to be both, both ways, it's a two-way street,” Norris said.
Dallas City Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn who represents the area and police leaders in a statement Friday said the city of Dallas is working with landlords to get them to do more to fight crime.
Examples include security gates and better lighting. Security gates were not operating Friday at some of the McCallum apartment complexes.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia was in Washington D.C. this week where members of the U.S. Senate Committee praised the crime reduction that has been achieved in Dallas.
Garcia’s plan focuses on hot spot areas and apartments are a focus of the next stage of his crime-fighting plan. The city hopes to hire 500 more officers over the next two years.
“I don't know about any other area but for this area, it's not safe,” Rashid said.
The 7700 block of McCallum just down the street from the North Central Police Substation at 6969 McCallum Boulevard.
Police did respond very quickly Friday with many units. They entered an apartment complex with the shields and SWAT gear where the shooter was thought to have been hiding but the shooter evidently got away.
