After celebrating his birthday, a restaurant manager took a ride on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, unaware it would be his last.
Daniel Gormley, the 53-year-old manager of Po Melvin’s in Irving, decided to take a DART train home on September 29 after celebrating his birthday, as CBS Texas reported. While on the train, Gormely was shot and killed near Market Center Station around 10 p.m.
Christopher Atkins, 27, is now charged with murder, according to Fox 4. He reportedly shot Gormley three times after a verbal confrontation, and the victim was found lying at the entrance of the train car.
Customers offered prayers and condolences for Gormley’s coworkers online as staff remember Gormley as dependable and hospitable.
“He was always here early. He would bring in donuts for the staff, paid out of his own pocket,” Po Melvin’s owner, Melvin LeMane, reportedly said. “He was a good man, good, good employee.”
DART Police Chief Charles Cato told The Dallas Express incidents like this are “extremely rare,” and the agency takes them very seriously.
“DART Police remain deeply committed to the safety of our riders, employees, and the communities we serve,” Cato said. “We’ve seen crime decrease across our system over the past year.”
However, what was once considered “extremely rare” is becoming more and more common.
Crime has increased on DART lines this year alone, according to a quarterly update released on August 27. Group A Offenses – including arson, assault, robbery, and drugs – doubled from 3.4 per 100,000 riders in January to 6.81 in June.
These crimes have increased almost 44% since last year, though without drug offenses, they would have fallen more than 6%. The most common crimes were drug paraphernalia, followed by assault, then drugs, and then theft. They most often occurred on the platform, then on the train.
“We have increased our presence across the system through a combination of fare enforcement officers, transit security personnel, and police officers,” Cato said. “Our average response time for priority one calls is six minutes.”
Local officials on the Regional Transportation Council, or the North Central Texas Council of Governments, passed a resolution on September 11 demanding crime statistics from DART and other transit agencies, as The Dallas Express reported. Dallas City Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, a member of the RTC, had previously said DART was withholding updated, detailed crime statistics.
A suspect stabbed and killed a man near Richardson, then fled on a nearby DART train in July, as The Dallas Express previously reported. Police arrested him hours later – at a DART station more than 12 miles away.