Two mass shootings in Dallas two weeks apart
Two mass shootings in Dallas this spring left two people dead and at least 25 others wounded.
The shootings — one April 2 at an outdoor concert in southeast Oak Cliff and the other March 19 at a spring break party at a South Dallas event venue — killed Anthony Deshun Wilson, 18, and Kealon Dejuane Gilmore, 26. Both shootings occurred at events that didn’t have a permit, which prompted city officials to unveil new requirements for people who plan to promote and make a profit from large unpermitted events.
The families of some victims — including a 14-year-old girl who was shot in the thigh and Jazmin Anderson, who was shot in the head — filed a lawsuit in the aftermath of the shooting, alleging event organizers failed to properly supervise the concert or take proper safety precautions despite promising to do so.
The shootings raised questions about whether residents in southern areas of Dallas believe police do enough to keep them safe. Seven off-duty officers were working security at the outdoor concert event, but left about half an hour before the gunfire erupted because their shifts ended, police said.
Dallas police arrested Astonial Calhoun and Devojiea Givens in connection with the concert shooting more than a month after the gunfire. Police haven’t announced any arrests in the South Dallas shooting.
Man arrested in 2016 slaying of prominent Dallas attorney
A man investigators focused on immediately after the slaying of prominent Dallas attorney Ira Tobolowsky was arrested in the case April 27 — nearly six years after the killing.
Steven Aubrey, who has denied involvement, was involved in a legal dispute with Tobolowsky when the lawyer’s body was found in the burning garage of his North Dallas home in May 2016. Police said Aubrey stalked and spied on Tobolowsky, then assaulted the lawyer in his garage, poured gasoline on him and set him on fire.
Police questioned Aubrey a week later and saw burns on his hands. Investigators said he shared intimate knowledge about the killing with the media that hadn’t been revealed publicly.
The day after Tobolowsky was killed, Aubrey and his partner ate at Lawry’s Prime Rib, where they spent triple their usual restaurant budget, police said.
Tobolowsky’s family blamed Aubrey for the slaying for years. Dallas police haven’t disclosed whether new evidence prompted the arrest.
Aubrey was detained in Florida and extradited to Dallas. He was indicted on a capital murder charge in May and remains in the Dallas County jail, with bail set at $2 million.
Police officers indicted in connection with 2020 protests
Two Dallas police officers and one Garland police officer accused of assaulting demonstrators during 2020 social justice protests downtown were indicted May 6 on multiple felony charges, including aggravated assault by a public servant, deadly conduct and official oppression.
Dallas police Senior Cpl. Ryan Mabry, former Dallas police Senior Cpl. Melvin Williams and Garland police Officer Joe Privitt fired ammunition dubbed “less-lethal,” such as beanbag and sponge rounds, and struck people who were backing away and didn’t pose any danger, according to court records. One man lost an eye and seven teeth.
Their attorneys called the charges absurd and said they set a dangerous precedent.
The indictments were the first by a Dallas County grand jury stemming from the 2020 protests and came just before the statute of limitations for several potential charges expired. Court records show the cases are pending.
Hate crime at the salon
A man opened fire May 11 inside the Hair World Salon in the 2200 block of Royal Lane in northwest Dallas and wounded three women of Korean descent. Four other people in the building were uninjured.
Jeremy Theron Smith, who is Black, was charged with seven felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police were investigating whether the crime was connected to at least two other offenses that targeted the city’s Asian community in the weeks before the Hair World Salon attack.
Smith’s girlfriend told detectives he had delusions about Asian people since being involved in a car crash about two years ago with an Asian man, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit.
Dallas police Chief Eddie García initially said hate wasn’t a factor in the salon shooting, but backtracked after evidence surfaced that the van the gunman drove before the shooting matched a suspect vehicle in at least two other incidents. The shooting stirred safety concerns and fear about anti-Asian hate incidents in Dallas.
Smith was indicted in August and remains in the Dallas County jail, with bail set at $700,000, according to court records.
Woman opens fire at Dallas Love Field airport
A woman opened fire at Dallas Love Field airport this summer, shooting into the ceiling and toward a Dallas police officer before the officer shot her, police said.
Portia Odufuwa approached the Southwest Airlines ticket counter July 25 and shouted she was going to blow up the building, police said. She was hospitalized after the officer shot her, then jailed. No one else was injured.
Odufuwa has a history of arrests but has repeatedly been found incompetent to stand trial. Her mother wrote in a 2020 protective order application that Odufuwa wasn’t taking her schizophrenia and bipolar disorder medication.
After the shooting, Odufuwa’s family said she has struggled with mental health conditions and has asked the courts for help. Other charges against her in past years include arson, criminal trespass and false reporting.
Odufuwa was indicted in October on a charge of aggravated assault against a public servant. She remains in the Dallas County jail, with bail set at about $500,000. No trial date has been set.
North Texas doctor accused of tampering with IV bags
A longtime North Texas anesthesiologist was accused of tampering with IV bags, causing patients to suffer serious cardiac complications at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas. One person died, Melanie Kaspar, a 55-year-old anesthesiologist at another facility.
Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr. is charged with federal counts of tampering with a consumer product causing death and intentional drug adulteration. Authorities said he injected IV bags with drugs that caused almost a dozen patients to experience cardiac emergencies between May and August this year.
Prosecutors said Ortiz’s motive could be out of retaliation for pending disciplinary action in a separate investigation.
The Texas Medical Board suspended his medical license, and Ortiz was arrested Sept. 14 in Plano. He was indicted on multiple federal counts in October. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
He was ordered to remain in jail until his trial.
Slaying of Methodist Dallas Medical Center workers
A parolee with an ankle monitor opened fire at Methodist Dallas Medical Center while visiting his girlfriend for the birth of their child, killing nurse Katie Annette Flowers and social worker Jacqueline Ama Pokuaa, police said.
Nestor Hernandez is charged with capital murder, aggravated assault against a public servant and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police said he accused his girlfriend of cheating, pulled a gun from his pants and began to hit her with it in a labor and delivery room Oct. 22.
Pokuaa was shot when she went into the room to provide routine patient services, and Flowers then looked inside the room and Hernandez shot her, police said. He surrendered after a brief standoff with officers, police said.
The shooting spurred awareness about the dangers medical workers face on the job. It also prompted scrutiny of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and criticism by police, the district attorney and the public about the use of ankle monitors, which were decried as ineffective.
Hernandez remains in the Dallas County jail. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating how he acquired a handgun. Gov. Greg Abbott this month also ordered an investigation into the terms of parole for Hernandez and another Dallas man with an ankle monitor who was accused in a separate slaying less than two weeks later.
Medical examiner’s office murder-suicide
Two people were killed and a third was wounded on Election Day when a gunman entered the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office and shot his wife and another employee before killing himself.
Beth Frost, 46, who was a medical examiner, and James Frost, 51, were found dead at the office Nov. 8. James Frost shot his wife and the other employee before turning the gun on himself, the sheriff’s department said.
The sheriff’s department said the Frosts were married but estranged. Dallas County court records show Beth Frost filed for divorce on May 2. She had been with the office as a medical examiner since June 2020, coming from the Maricopa County medical examiner’s office in Phoenix, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The sheriff’s department has divulged little about the case since the shooting. Investigators have said they were looking into how James Frost was able to enter the building through an employee entrance.
Killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand
A 7-year-old girl was reported missing Nov. 30 from her home in Wise County, about 30 miles northwest of Fort Worth. Two days later, Athena Strand was found dead.
Tanner Horner, a 31-year-old contract FedEx driver from Fort Worth, was arrested on charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. He confessed to killing Athena after delivering a Christmas package to her home.
Horner told authorities he accidentally hit Athena with his delivery van and panicked, then threw her in the van and strangled her because he worried she would tell her father, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit.
Horner also faces three unrelated child sexual assault charges stemming from 2013. He remains in the Wise County jail, with bail set at just over $1.5 million.
Athena’s father filed a lawsuit accusing FedEx of placing “dangerous persons in a position of trust.” Athena’s mother has hired a legal team to investigate the girl’s death.
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