‘I could have lost my life’: 18-year-old killed, 5 others injured Sunday in Deep Ellum shooting

One person was killed and five others were injured, one critically, after a shooting early Sunday in Deep Ellum, police said. A man was arrested but it’s unclear if he was connected to the slaying and injuries.

Sunday’s mass shooting was one of several recent violent crimes in the popular entertainment district east of downtown as crowds return after waning during the pandemic. Other violence included a man who crashed a truck into a pedestrian, Dallas police horse and a car; a stabbing; and gunmen shooting two people.

Dallas police Chief Eddie García told the department has zero tolerance for the violence. Police blocked off multiple streets in Deep Ellum in response to the shooting, he said, and the department will send officers to the area Sunday night. Supervisors will remain “in constant contact” with the officers, he added.

“We’re not having it!” he said in a text.

On Sunday, shots were fired from multiple weapons around 12:40 a.m. near the intersection of North Malcolm X Boulevard and Main Street, where an 18-year-old identified as Kenneth Walker and five others were shot, police said.

Walker died at a hospital. A 19-year-old, who has not been identified, was in critical condition.

The four others, all female, ages 30, 25, 21 and 15, had injuries that weren’t believed to be life-threatening, police said.

Officers heard the gunshots, Dallas police said, and found 18-year-old Lathaniel Pearson “pointing a gun.”

Pearson dropped the gun and ran but was arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest, police said. At the same time, multiple weapons were heard firing, police said.

It is unclear whether rounds fired by Pearson were connected to Walker’s death or the others who were shot, police said.

‘A silent burst of energy’

Walker was the oldest of three, and he cherished his time with his siblings before his death Sunday, said his mother, Jessica Palacios.

Palacios said her son, who went by “KJ,” was “a silent burst of energy.”

“It was magnetic,” she said. “Although his physical being was taken from us prematurely, his beautiful spirit will now flow around us forever.”

Walker studied business management at Duncanville High School, where he took advanced classes and had plans to build his own business empire one day, his family said.

Palacios said that Walker always tried to provide for his family and he had wished to give his mother “the best things he could as her son.” He was loved by his entire family and so many others, she added.

“Please just send us prayers,” she said. “We love you, KJ, and we already feel the void your presence once filled.”

‘I could have lost my life’

Karina Gonzalez of Sulphur Springs said she was visiting Deep Ellum for the first time with two friends when they witnessed the shooting.

Gonzalez said they were walking towards a bar when gunfire erupted between people in a vehicle parked on the street and a gunman standing on the sidewalk.

“We heard the first bang-bang-bang-bang and everybody was still kind of shocked, like what was going on, trying to figure out if it was shots or not,” Gonzalez said. “And then another five rounds went off and that’s when everybody started bolting.”

She said she and others ducked behind a concrete barrier as people dropped to the ground to avoid being hit. She said she grabbed a girl who had been shot in the leg and shielded her, thinking “that could be my sister.”

Gonzalez said officers immediately responded and one chased the gunman outside the car. She said police yelled “Drop your gun! Drop the weapon!”

After the gunman ran past them and the vehicle took off, she said she stood up and saw a body.

“I could’ve lost one of my friends,” she said. “I could’ve lost my life.”

Crime in Deep Ellum

The mass shooting comes as the city praised a smaller violent crime rate and a decrease in the number of murders during the first half of the year.

The police chief has overseen a strategy that aims to reduce violent crime after two years of increased homicides. Police are preparing to focus on the plan’s medium- and long-term strategies, which include using focused deterrence to change the behavior of high-risk offenders through arrests, community involvement and alternatives to violence.

Still, crime in Deep Ellum has persisted.

In late August, a man speeding through Deep Ellum in a pickup was arrested on charges that he crashed his truck into a pedestrian, a Dallas police horse and a car while intoxicated. About a week later, a man was fatally stabbed near Main Street and Good Latimer Expressway. The killer fled.

At least two people were also shot in Deep Ellum in mid-July when multiple gunmen opened fire near Main and Crowdus streets. Police have not released information on any arrests.

City council member Jesse Moreno, whose district includes Deep Ellum, said in a written statement that recent violent crime has been “a great concern” to him and residents. He said he is in “constant communication with DPD leadership” and the community.

“While the city of Dallas and Deep Ellum remain a welcoming community, we will not tolerate violence,” Moreno said. “I have been and will continue working nonstop in partnership with DPD and our Deep Ellum community to make sure violence diminishes and people feel safe when they visit Deep Ellum.”

Gonzalez, who witnessed Sunday’s shooting, said that was the last time she’ll visit the area at night.

“At night time I will never step foot in Deep Ellum,” she added. “That is the scariest thing I’ve ever witnessed.”