A disagreement over sunglasses and drugs escalated into a fatal stabbing last Saturday in east Oak Cliff, according to a Dallas police report.
The incident occurred in the early hours of September 9 in the 1800 block of Adelaide Drive in District 4, which is represented by Council Member Carolyn King Arnold.
Officers from the Dallas Police Department and first responders arrived on the scene at roughly 3:45 a.m., but the victim, Rodney Brooks, 58, had been stabbed multiple times in the chest and arms and did not survive his injuries.
Investigators later learned through a witness account that a dispute had apparently broken out between Brooks and another man named Randell Wilson, 51, over a pair of sunglasses.
Wilson allegedly tried to get drugs by bartering his sunglasses, which Brooks threw over the bridge, according to The Dallas Morning News. At that time, the two men reportedly clashed, ending with Brooks being stabbed and Wilson leaving the scene.
Later that same day, Wilson turned himself in to police and gave his own account of events.
He alleged that he was trying to sell his sunglasses to the victim, who then threw them off the bridge and drew a knife, according to the DMN.
In the ensuing scuffle, Wilson told investigators that he managed to seize the knife from Brooks, who inadvertently ran into the knife.
Wilson was charged with murder and is now in custody at the Dallas County jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond.
Brooks’ family is holding a service for him on September 21 at Evergreen Memorial Funeral Home.
Drug offenses and homicides continue to climb in Dallas. City crime data show that drug offenses have increased by 6.7% and homicides by 7.3% compared to this time last year, with 7,270 and 176 offenses logged in the dashboard respectively as of September 15.
As recently reported in The Dallas Express, the DPD faces an upward battle against surging crime due to an ongoing officer shortage.
Despite a City analysis previously recommending a city the size of Dallas have a force of about 4,000 officers, it currently maintains a force of fewer than 3,200 officers.
Meanwhile, neighboring Fort Worth has hired a private security force and designated a special unit to police its city center. As covered in The Dallas Express, the result has been drastically lower incidences of crime — especially auto theft and robberies — than in Downtown Dallas.