A 24-year-old man was arrested on murder charges after Garland police named him as the alleged suspect in a Christmas morning shooting.
Officers responded to the parking lot of Z Chandelier Lounge in the 4400 block of West Walnut Street in Garland at around 8 a.m. on December 25. They found 34-year-old Fuad Baranja critically wounded and transported him to a nearby hospital. Despite these efforts, Baranja died the following day.
Garland detectives questioned witnesses at the scene and discovered that a fight had broken out between the victim and another man. Shots were fired after tensions boiled over.
The investigation into the shooting is still ongoing, yet charges were filed against Johnny Lewis III. It is unknown what led detectives to Lewis, who remains in police custody at Garland Detention Center with no bond.
Another Christmas day shooting in Dallas resulted in one death, as previously covered in The Dallas Express. Michael Mitchell, 37, was fatally wounded while a suspect was taken into custody at the scene.
Last November, Garland police logged just one murder. In nearby Dallas, a total of 10 were reported that same month, according to the City’s crime analytics dashboard.
Despite the efforts of the Dallas Police Department to reduce violent crime, the murder rate has remained high all year, reaching 240 as of December 26 for a year-over-year increase of 13.7%.
DPD currently fields around 3,000 officers although a City analysis found that 4,000 officers would be necessary to effectively manage crime in Dallas.
Downtown Dallas reflects the consequences of this shortage, regularly logging a higher incidence of crime than the downtown area of neighboring Fort Worth. A specialized neighborhood crime unit patrols Fort Worth’s city center in collaboration with private security guards.