Shooting Leaves 3 Dead, 8 Injured at ComoFest Fireworks Show in Fort Worth
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A Fourth of July fireworks show ended in gunfire just before midnight Monday, as police say several men fired into a crowd at Fort Worth’s ComoFest in the historic West Fort Worth Como neighborhood.
Three people died and eight were injured in the chaos, which attendees said sounded like fireworks.
Fort Worth police said “several men” fired randomly into a crowd. Officers said none of those injured or killed were the suspects.
An investigation is ongoing, and no arrests had been made as of Wednesday evening. Little information has been provided about the victims. The Dallas Morning News reported that 22-year-old Cynthia Santos and 18-year olds Gabriella Navarrete and Paul Willis were killed. At least one juvenile was among the injured.
Authorities have asked witnesses to contact the Fort Worth Homicide Unit Crime Stoppers hotline at 817-392-4330. A person who answered the Crime Stoppers line Wednesday said there is no update on the case.
An already-scheduled Fourth of July parade was held in the Como neighborhood Tuesday, following the shootings, as residents of the historically-Black community gathered to show support for the families who lost loved ones and tried to make some sense of the matter.
Mass Shootings
The incident again puts a spotlight on gun violence and mass shootings in public places. The ComoFest shooting occurred just two months after 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia opened fire at the Allen Premium Outlets on May 6, killing nine people.
The gunman in that incident was fatally shot by a police officer, who was later cleared by a Collin County grand jury of any wrongdoing.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, numerous mass shootings occurred over the Fourth of July holiday weekend this year, including incidents in Shreveport, La., Akron, Ohio, and Philadelphia, Pa. CNN reported that the Fourth of July holiday “accounted for the most mass shootings of any other days of the year in nearly a decade.”
Another shooting in Fort Worth, in the 2100 block of Christine Avenue, was reported earlier in the day July 3. Four were injured, and a suspect was being detained by the Fort Worth Police Department’s Gang Unit, according to reports.
CandysDirt.com recently published a series on neighborhood crime by Dallas City Council district, and it is evident that North Texans are concerned about public safety.
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Fortunately they have been arrested.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety and Tarrant County court records, Redic was arrested in February 2019 on multiple counts of felony aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Redic, who was 16 years old at the time of his arrest, was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. With more than a year left on his sentence, Redic was let out on parole on December 28, 2022, according to court records obtained by the CBS News Texas I-Team.
Williams also had a previous run with the Fort Worth Police Department when he was arrested in December 2022 on multiple charges, including unlicensed carry of a weapon. All charges against Williams were dropped or waived.