A triple shooting in Downtown Dallas last Sunday left one dead and two others injured as the neighborhood continues to suffer from rampant crime.
The shooting occurred around 2:35 a.m. at the corner of Commerce Street and South Pearl Expressway. One of the victims, 22-year-old Mario Marchbanks, died from his wounds. Another victim was in critical condition, and a third was in stable condition, according to the Dallas Police Department’s (DPD) crime blog.
Police have not released the names of the two injured individuals.
Mar Butler, who heads a community activist group called TREE Leadership Organization, said the reason for the shooting and other violent crimes in the area is a failure to deal with root causes.
“There’s negligence somewhere in our communication, our engagement, our processes for prevention and intervention,” Butler told NBC 5 DFW.
Butler’s program focuses on providing local communities with social services, from job placement and training to mental health.
“A lot [of] people who commit crimes and shoot in certain places, they don’t even live [in] those areas where the crimes are being committed,” Butler said, per NBC 5.
DPD has not identified a suspect in the case and is asking anyone with information to call Det. Patty Belew at 214-671-3603.
The shootings happened in District 14, represented by Council Member Paul Ridley. As of Thursday, August 3, there have been 153 murders in Dallas in 2023, an 8.5% increase year over year, according to a DPD report.
Crime in Downtown Dallas has been particularly bad in recent years, especially compared to Fort Worth’s downtown area, which is patrolled by a dedicated neighborhood unit working alongside private security guards.
“Downtown Dallas continues to far outpace [its sister] city with crime. While I knew it was worse, I am still shocked at how bad it has gotten. There were 91 vehicle thefts in Downtown Dallas [in April]. That’s three cars stolen every day, all month long,” said Louis Darrouzet of the Metroplex Civic & Business Association (MCBA) in a previous interview with The Dallas Express. “This is a trend that must improve if we want to position Dallas to be a safe place to conduct business.”
DPD has been suffering from a severe police shortage. A city analysis found that the department needs about 900 more officers, noting that a city the size of Dallas needs around three officers for every 1,000 residents — bringing the ideal staffing figure to roughly 4,000.
“If we could put in policies that would help retention of those senior officers to stay three to maybe five more years than they had planned to, that would help us in that five-year plan of catching up in hiring,” said Dallas Police Association President Mike Mata, according to the Dallas Observer. “You’ve got to stop the bleeding.”
Downtown Dallas has also seen more than its share of homelessness and vagrancy.
“They all go to Downtown Dallas because that’s where they can get their needs met,” Darrouzet previously told The Dallas Express.
DPD did not immediately respond to The Dallas Express‘ request for comment.