4 min read
Halloween night in Deep Ellum ended in gunfire three separate times. By sunrise Sunday, four people were dead and 15 more were injured, and one of the most storied Black entertainment districts in Texas had become a sprawling crime scene.
Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux laid out the toll at a Sunday briefing. Three separate shootings broke out across the neighborhood in the early morning hours, and detectives are still working to learn whether any of them were connected and what set them off.
Major Takeaways
- Four people were killed and 15 were injured in three separate shootings in Deep Ellum early Sunday.
- The first calls came from the 2600 block of Elm Street shortly after midnight, with more gunfire later on Main Street and South Ervay Street.
- Chief Daniel Comeaux said some arrests have been made and officers are interviewing the people arrested, but he gave no number and no charges.
- Police have not released the names or ages of the people killed, the conditions of the injured, or any motive.
- Investigators have not said whether the three shootings are connected.
Three Scenes Spread Across the District
The first shooting calls came in shortly after midnight along the 2600 block of Elm Street, the heart of the district, where Halloween crowds had packed the bars and clubs. About an hour later, officers were sent to a second shooting near Main Street and Pryor Street, one block south.
A third shooting followed at about 3:30 a.m. along South Ervay Street. Three of the four deaths came at one scene near Crowdus Street and Canton Street, where two people died at the scene and a third died at a hospital.
The injured count climbed through the morning because some victims took themselves to area hospitals instead of waiting for ambulances. Officers from across Dallas poured into the district, whole blocks were taped off, and the neighborhood was shut down while detectives worked the scenes.
Arrests Made, Answers Still Scarce
Comeaux said some arrests were made during the night, and detectives are now interviewing the people in custody. He did not say how many people were arrested or what charges any of them face, and he was careful not to tie anyone in custody to a specific scene.
“This is a really big scene. It’s spread out,” Comeaux said. “We are interviewing some individuals right now that we have arrested, still trying to figure out exactly how it ties into all the shootings out here.”
As of Sunday afternoon, police had not released the names or ages of the four people killed. The conditions of the 15 injured have not been released either, and no motive has been announced for any of the three shootings.
A Hard Night for a District Black Dallas Built
Deep Ellum has been a center of Black life in Dallas for well over a century. Generations of Black families built businesses along Elm Street, and the district became hallowed ground for American music. Bluesmen like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lead Belly once played these same blocks, and their sound traveled the world.
That history is part of why a night like this one cuts so deep. Halloween brought thousands of people into the district to celebrate, and by morning the same streets were closed off as a crime scene. The violence also lands about six months after two violent nights in Deep Ellum this past May left a security officer dead and five people wounded, a fresh round of pain for a neighborhood still answering hard questions about safety after dark.
Dallas was not alone. The Deep Ellum shootings were part of a violent Halloween weekend across the country, including the gunfire outside Legion Field after the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, where one person died and eight were hurt. Follow the latest in our news coverage as this story develops.
Urban City Podcast will update this story as police release names, conditions, and charges. Anyone with information about the Deep Ellum shootings is urged to contact the Dallas Police Department.
