Photo courtesy of Dallas Police
Yesterday, the Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate wrote about a man being shot in the back in Deep Ellum (and he’s expected to survive). There have been two more shootings since then.
One of them was deadly. A security guard trying to break up a fight — 26-year-old Joseph Gray — was shot and killed, according to The DPD Beat. Police officers responded to the shooting call at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 6 in the 2800 block of Elm Street, a block away from the Monday morning shooting of a man in the back. Detorius Tarver, 23, has been accused of being in a “physical disturbance inside a business” and shooting Gray. Tarver was taken to jail and is facing murder charges.
About two hours prior on Tuesday night, police were responding to an unrelated shooting in the 2900 block of Commerce Street (two streets south of the Elm Street shootings) in which five people were wounded, WFAA reports. Their injuries were deemed non-life-threatening, but they still landed in a hospital.
“Deep Ellum is a beautiful, creative community full of passion and love, and it is with deep sadness we proceed today in communicating with our community,” the Deep Ellum Foundation said in a statement to WFAA, sending condolences to the shooting victims and Gray’s family. “We continue steadfastly in our mission to do everything in our power to protect Deep Ellum and welcome everyone to a safe, inviting neighborhood.”
Earlier this year, the foundation and City leaders launched the new Deep Ellum Community Safety Plan 2.0. You can check out our recap of that plan here.
Anyone with information about Gray’s killing (case no. 064334-2026) can reach out to Det. K. Sapon at 214-671-3602 or kofi.sapon-amoah@dallaspolice.gov.
