A man is in police custody after allegedly shooting a woman in a West Fort Worth motel parking lot Monday night for no apparent reason.
Fort Worth police received reports of a shooting at the Relax Inn parking lot at around 10 p.m. Responding officers arrived at 8701 W. Freeway off of I-30 and found a woman shot in the leg. She told officers that a gunman had fired a single shot at her from a vehicle before fleeing the scene, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The victim was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, per CBS News Texas.
Later that same night, a preliminary investigation led officers to Pablo Galvan, 44, who was booked in Tarrant County jail on one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He remains in custody with a bond set at $75,000.
No motive has been indicated yet for the alleged attack, which Fort Worth Police Department’s Gun Violence Unit is still investigating.
Violent crime has also been an issue in Dallas. As of November 21, there were 23,277 assault offenses committed in Dallas, with 5,840 considered aggravated assaults, according to the City’s crime analytics overview dashboard. While this does represent a slight year-over-year dip, the murder rate has climbed despite the DPD’s best efforts to curb violent crime. Such criminal activity has had an especially big impact on Downtown Dallas.
A study conducted by the Metroplex Civic & Business Association this year found that compared to Fort Worth’s city center, residents and commuters in Downtown Dallas clocked four times more assaults, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
For the CEO of this group, Louis Darrouzet, this and other significant crime disparities between the two neighborhoods come down to DPD not having enough resources, as he told The Dallas Express in an interview.
DPD fields a force of fewer than 3,200 officers. This is approximately 800 short of the ideal staffing level of 4,000 indicated in a City analysis advising that a city the size of Dallas needs roughly three police officers for every 1,000 residents.
Additionally, the Fort Worth Police Department has a dedicated police unit patrolling its city center alongside private security guards.