A DART police officer shot a suspect near Victory Park Station on Sunday. This incident occurred after DART had spent months publicly advertising improvements they made for rider safety.
Around 5:30 Sunday afternoon near the 2500 block of Victory Park Avenue, DART officers shot at a suspect along the light rail tracks, per CBS News. In a video, officers are seen running, a gun being kicked away from a man on the ground, and paramedics arriving shortly after. DART later confirmed no officers or bystanders were hurt.
Trains were held; a bus bridge went up; and by Monday, the station was moving again.
DART has not identified the suspect or disclosed their condition, and the circumstances leading up to the shooting remain unclear. However, the investigation was still active as of Monday morning.
Two weeks ago, DART’s board approved expanded security contracts and renewed its partnership with Parkland Health for the DART Cares mental health program. The agency’s own website called these moves part of efforts that had already produced “a reduction in violent crime across the system.”
“DART is not blind to the fact that people in our community have questioned whether safety is a priority and we hear you,” Chairman Randall Bryant said via a press release dated April 28.
In the fall of last year, DART became the site of a string of killings that has left a negative cloud over the agency. A 53-year-old Irving restaurant manager was shot and killed on a train near Market Center Station on September 29 – he’d been riding home after celebrating his birthday.
A week later, a gunman in a hockey mask opened fire on a train near Pearl/Arts District Station, killing another passenger – the second DART rider murdered in less than a week.
In November, a passenger was shot and wounded near Akard Station – directly across the street from DART’s own headquarters, The Dallas Express reported.
In December, 28-year-old Erin LaJames Graham was shot and killed at 8th and Corinth Station in front of his family.
Four shootings, three dead in roughly a ten-week timeframe.
DART responded by approving a $16.8 million surveillance camera overhaul – the agency’s largest since 2010 – and a $7.8 million “cleaning” contract.
NIBRS data presented to the Dallas City Council in December 2025 showed Group A offenses – assault, robbery, drug crimes – up nearly 11% year-over-year, with weapons violations surging 64%. DART Police Chief Charles Cato previously told The Dallas Express the deadly incidents were “extremely rare” and that crime was actually trending down.
By February 2026, the numbers had improved – Group A offenses down 20%, crimes against persons down 50%. That same month, however, a shooting was reported over Valentine’s Day weekend, a “suspicious item” was found, and a passenger threatened to “kill everybody” on a train, according to DART police dispatch audio reviewed by DX.
DART also faced setbacks at the ballot box on May 2, when voters in Highland Park elected to withdraw from the transit system.
