It is unclear whether a suspect in a shooting at a high-rise apartment building in Downtown Dallas Thursday afternoon has been identified, but one of the victims has been described as a 16-year-old Dallas ISD student.
The violent incident left a total of three people injured and local residents shaken.
Police and Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to multiple reports of gunfire at about 12:15 p.m. at The Continental at Mercantile apartments at 1810 Commerce St. Two adults and the 16-year-old were found with bullet wounds and taken to a local hospital. All three are reported to be in stable condition.
Police evacuated the building while they investigated the crime scene, and traffic around the building was blocked off for several hours. Residents were allowed to return to their homes shortly after 3 p.m.
While the two adult victims have not been identified, Dallas ISD confirmed that one of the victims is a student in the district and is expected to make a full recovery, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The incident, which occurred in District 2, represented by Council Member Jesse Moreno, is the third off-campus shooting involving a Dallas ISD student this week.
A police spokesperson declined to give any further details about the shooting, citing the ongoing investigation. However, an unnamed source reportedly told WFAA that the incident began as an argument that escalated into a shooting.
Other residents in the building were left shaken by what they saw and heard on Thursday. Dayana Bailey described hearing loud, rapid gunfire followed by screaming and “screeching.”
“It terrified my soul and my spirit,” she told KERA News.
She said that as police led her outside during the evacuation, she saw “blood everywhere, blood in the hallways, blood in the elevators when you get to the first floor,” WFAA reported.
Carollee Padilla was on the phone when she heard the screaming.
“I peeked my head out my door, and a man was walking towards me with his… holding his guts, saying, ‘Help! I’ve been shot!’” Padilla recalled, per Fox 4 KDFW.
“Since I been here, I’ve felt real safe in the building,” Leslie Johnson said, according to DMN. “I believe the apartment complex has our best interest in mind. But I don’t feel safe now.”
Crime in the city’s downtown area is rampant and regularly outpaces crime in nearby Fort Worth’s city center, according to monthly reports by the Metroplex Civic & Business Association. Fort Worth employs dedicated police units along with private security to patrol its downtown area.
The Dallas Police Department has been hindered in its crime-fighting efforts by a chronic shortage of police officers, as well as by a budget that is far below that of other high-crime cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.
As of September 12, the City has logged 4,250 incidents of aggravated assault, according to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard.