A man was fatally shot outside a business in West Oak Cliff early Wednesday morning, and no suspect has been taken into custody yet.
According to the Dallas Police Department, the victim, 32-year-old Cesar Avalos, was taken to a nearby hospital by an unidentified person in a private vehicle. However, he eventually died from his wounds.
Officers conducted a preliminary investigation at the scene of the shooting in the 4400 block of West Illinois Avenue. Avalos was shot at around 1:30 a.m. by a suspect yet to be identified.
Anyone with information about Avalos’ murder is urged to contact Det. Paul Johnson at 469-271-6328 or [email protected].
The shooting occurred in Council Member Zarin Gracey’s District 3, which was the site of four of the 75 criminal homicides logged this year in Dallas as of May 15, per data from the City’s crime analytics dashboard.
Minorities represent the overwhelming majority of violent crime victims, with over 65% of murder victims being black and nearly 27% being Hispanic, per City data. Males are also disproportionately killed, with 64 victims being men and boys between the ages of 15 and 78.
These trends in terms of gender switch when it comes to assault, as women and girls comprise the majority of victims. Of the 9,183 offenses reported through the middle of May, 5,517 involved female victims; 45% were black, and more than 37% were Hispanic.
A comparative analysis of Downtown Dallas and the downtown area of Fort Worth found that an average of two people were assaulted in the former each day in April — eight times more than in Cowtown. The Metroplex Civic & Business Association (MCBA) produces monthly comparisons, which continue to show a massive discrepancy in crime between these two cities.
“The biggest correction to crime is having a police presence. It’s not even putting people in jail, just having enough people on the street, making people less likely to commit crime, and the City’s not doing that,” MCBA CEO Louis Darrouzet told DX.
While Fort Worth’s downtown area is patrolled by a specialized neighborhood police unit and private security guards, DPD has been critically understaffed. Only around 3,000 police officers are in the field, even though a City report had previously recommended a force of roughly 4,000.
Having only around $654 million at its disposal this fiscal year, which is considerably less than the public spending on police seen in other high-crime municipalities, it is unclear whether the department will be able to address the staffing discrepancy.