At least three people were killed and eight injured in a shooting late Monday during a community gathering in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, police said.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting just after 11:45 p.m. in the area of 3400 Horne St., near where a celebration known as “ComoFest” had unfolded earlier, the Fort Worth Police Department said. Police clarified Tuesday afternoon that the shooting was “separate from and unrelated to” the community event, which had been held in a park several blocks away from where the shots were fired.
Upon arrival, they found multiple shooting victims in a parking lot. A number of victims were taken to hospitals by private vehicles, while others were transported by ambulance, police said.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene, while two other people were later pronounced dead, authorities said.
At least eight people were injured and receiving treatment at hospitals. Their conditions were not immediately clear as of early Tuesday morning.
Police said 10 of the shooting victims were adults and one victim was a juvenile. It was not clear whether the juvenile was among the people deceased or injured.
Police said Tuesday afternoon they determined that “several unknown males” had started firing indiscriminately into the crowd before fleeing.
No suspects have been publicly identified and any potential motive was unclear. Police said they have determined that none of the injured are suspects.
Police said they “continue to actively pursue several leads” and asked that anyone with information in connection with the shooting contact the department’s homicide unit at 817-392-4330 or Crime Stoppers.
“If anyone has personal videos during the time of the shooting or events leading up to the shooting they are asked to contact police,” authorities said.
Following the inaugural ComoFest celebration in 2021, eight people were shot and wounded near a car wash in the area.
The neighborhood also has been holding an annual Fourth of July parade for more than 70 years. On Tuesday morning, people gathered for the parade along the street where the shooting had occurred the night before.
Fort Worth Police said they had deployed extra officers to work on Tuesday “to provide extra patrol response, high visibility, event security, and rapid response” in light of the shooting and the holiday.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker told NBC affiliate KXAS of Dallas-Fort Worth the shooting was “heartbreaking.”
“It’s senseless, man, you know, you had people come in to a family environment with guns and start shooting randomly,” Parker said.
“We owe it to this community to be better in the future and prevent these types of things from happening,” Parker said.
Source – NBC News
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