Relatives of a West Dallas homicide victim are grieving and fearful after the unsolved murder, according to a pastor who has been in touch with them.
The crime comes as police say they have been making progress reducing Dallas violence.
This murder happened Wednesday afternoon near C.F. Carr Elementary School as classes were about to end.
Crime scene tape was still visible Thursday outside the school, down the street from Community Fellowship Church.
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“The family is hurting. The family is grieving,” said the pastor of the church, James Armstrong III.
He said relatives decline to talk about the case because they are fearful of more violence.
A police spokesman Thursday said no arrests have been made and police declined to even confirm the victim’s name.
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Armstrong said a wrecked car seen between the school and the church Wednesday was the murder victim’s vehicle that came to rest at that location after the shooting around the corner.
It is a neighborhood that violence has struck before.
“We need to be sure that we're providing resources for individuals to get plugged into so that they're not on the streets killing each other,” Armstrong said.
He attended Carr Elementary as a child and Armstrong said he once hid under a desk because of a drug raid outside.
He said it happened on what are now vacant lots beside the church, where his grandfather once served as the pastor.
“His thought was I'd rather nothing be there than a drug home be there,” Armstrong said.
His church now owns those vacant lots.
Dallas Police this week reported additional declines in overall violent crime for the month of January following the new crime-fighting plan put in place by new Chief Eddie Garcia last year.
In the first two weeks of February, the rate of homicide in Dallas has also edged lower year to date compared to last year.
Armstrong said he supports police and the efforts of Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson who also grew up in that West Dallas neighborhood and attended C.F. Carr Elementary School.
“It's going to take not only city hall, but it's going to take churches. It's going to take community members standing up to say there should be no more violence,” Armstrong said.
Another murder happened Wednesday night in North Dallas at an apartment complex on Churchill Way near Central Expressway.
Police asked for help finding two men seen leaving the scene of that killing.
As of Wednesday, a police website reported 32 homicide offenses so far in 2022 compared to 35 for the same period in 2021. All other categories of violent crime were also down for an overall citywide decline of 17% so far in 2022.
