Dallas police arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly killing a man who was working for a rideshare company at the time.
An unidentified teen was arrested on capital murder charges after an investigation into the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Faneal Tesfit of Irving pointed to him as a suspect.
As previously covered by The Dallas Express, Tesfit was shot while driving a white sedan in the 2400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue at around 1:40 a.m. on February 20. He lost control of the vehicle, jumped the curb, and ran into the side of an empty home, video surveillance of the incident showed.
Tesfit was pronounced dead at the scene, which was located in Council Member Adam Bazaldua’s District 7. The victim’s family said he had begun working as a rideshare driver, according to Fox 4 KDFW.
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help cover funeral expenses and support Tesfit’s loved ones as they grieve. The effort has already generated over $58,000 as of March 1.
“Anyone that knew Faneal immediately understood that he was an amazing person, but I knew him as an even more amazing older brother,” his sister Saron Tesfit wrote. “He always understood how to uplift the mood in every room and never failed to make his mother & sister laugh. Faneal was courageous, smart, loving, funny, and incredibly kind. Although our time was cut short, I know that his name and legacy will live on forever.”
Another relative, Master Tesfatsion, a sports journalist, posted on X that Tesfit was a huge supporter of FC Barcelona and Dallas sports teams and was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
“I want to thank @DallasPD for moving quickly on this. I also want to thank everyone that has donated to support Faneal’s mother and sister during this difficult time,” Tesfatsion wrote in reaction to the suspect’s arrest.
There have been several murders allegedly committed by teen boys in Dallas lately, as covered by The Dallas Express. For instance, earlier this month, a 16-year-old was arrested on capital murder charges for allegedly shooting and killing a 15-year-old during a fight on December 30, 2023. The slaying also occurred in District 7.
That same day in Council Member Zarin D. Gracey’s District 3, two 15-year-olds shot and killed one another after a deal to buy an AR-15 turned sour over counterfeit cash, according to a 17-year-old witness.
Last year saw a 15% hike in murders compared to 2022, with 246 reports made, per the City’s crime analytics dashboard. The vast majority of victims were black or Hispanic males.
A longstanding shortage of police officers has hindered efforts to fight crime in Dallas. Even though a City report recommended a force of roughly 4,000 in order to adequately promote public safety in a municipality the size of Dallas, only around 3,000 officers are currently fielded by the Dallas Police Department.
Alongside lackluster police response times, Downtown Dallas has seen growing criminality, especially when compared to Fort Worth’s city center, which is patrolled by a dedicated police unit and private security officers. For instance, the Metroplex Civic & Business Association found in a comparative study that roughly 24 times more auto thefts and six times more assaults occurred in Downtown Dallas in January.
City leaders voted in a budget of $654 million for the DPD this year, which is considerably less than the spending on police operations seen by their counterparts in other high-crime cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.