The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, remained at large more than 18 hours after the shooting and authorities warned that he might still be armed. The attack happened just before midnight Friday near the town of Cleveland, north of Houston, on a street where some residents say it is not uncommon to hear neighbors unwind by firing off guns.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Oropeza used an AR-style rifle, and as the search for him dragged into Saturday evening, authorities had widened their efforts to as far as “10 to 20 miles” from the murder scene. He said Oropeza may still have a weapon but that he believes authorities have the rifle used in the shooting.

Capers said they found clothes and a phone while combing a rural area that includes dense layers of forest but that tracking dogs had lost the scent.

“He could be anywhere now,” Capers said.

Capers said the victims were between the ages of 8 and 31 years old and that all were believed to be from Honduras. All were shot “from the neck up,” he said.

The attack was the latest act of gun violence in what has been a record pace of mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, some of which have also involved semiautomatic rifles.

The mass killings have played out in a variety of places — a Nashville school, a Kentucky bank, a Southern California dance hall, and now a rural Texas neighborhood inside a single-story home.

Capers said there were 10 people in the house — some of whom had just moved there earlier in the week — but that that no one else was injured. He said two of the victims were found in a bedroom laying over two children in an apparent attempt to shield them.

A total of three children found covered in blood in the home were taken to a hospital but found to be uninjured, Capers said.

FBI spokesperson Christina Garza said investigators do not believe everyone at the home were members of a single family. The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8.

The confrontation followed the neighbors walking up to the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said. The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, Capers said, and one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.

The shooting took place on a rural pothole-riddled street where single-story homes sit on wide 1-acre lots and are surrounded by a thick canopy of trees. A horse could be seen behind the victim’s home, while in the front yard of Oropeza’s house a dog and chickens wandered.

Rene Arevalo Sr., who lives a few houses down, said he heard gunshots around midnight but didn’t think anything of it.

“It’s a normal thing people do around here, especially on Fridays after work,” Arevalo said. “They get home and start drinking in their backyards and shooting out there.”

Capers said his deputies had been to Oropeza’s home at least once before and spoken with him about “shooting his gun in the yard.” It was not clear whether any action was taken at the time. At a news conference Saturday evening, the sheriff said firing a gun on your own property can be illegal, but he did not say whether Oropeza had previously broken the law.

Capers said the new arrivals in the home had moved from Houston earlier in the week, but he said he did not know whether they were planning to stay there.

Across the U.S. since Jan. 1, there have been at least 18 shootings that left four or more people dead, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in partnership with Northeastern University. The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings; and workplace vendettas.

Texas has confronted multiple mass shootings in recent years, including last year’s attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019; and a gunman opening fire at a church in the tiny town of Sutherland Springs in 2017.

Republican leaders in Texas have continually rejected calls for new firearm restrictions, including this year over the protests of several families whose children were killed in Uvalde.

A few months ago, Arevalo said Oropeza threatened to kill his dog after it got loose in the neighborhood and chased the pit bull in his truck.

“I tell my wife all the time, ‘Stay away from the neighbors. Don’t argue with them. You never know how they’re going to react,’” Arevalo said. “I tell her that because Texas is a state where you don’t know who has a gun and who is going to react that way.”

About 58 names were etched into the Texas Peace Officers’ Memorial, including at least 6 officers from North Texas.

“This is a very difficult time of year for all Texas police officers, especially for those of us at Grand Prairie Police Department who are here at the State Capitol honoring fallen officer Brandon Tsai. Quite frankly, I hope it’s something we never have to do again and I hope that this ceremony becomes something that’s not necessary in Texas,” said Grand Prairie Police Chief Daniel Scesney who attended the ceremony.

Grand Prairie Officer Brandon Tsai was killed while pursuing a suspect with fake paper tags in Nov. 2022.

Another local officer remembered Sunday night was Officer Steve Nothem from the Carrollton Police Department. He died in the line of duty last September when his patrol unit was struck on the George Bush Turnpike while assisting with a DUI investigation.

His father, who is from Wisconsin, was at the ceremony in Austin and said he was too emotional to speak but shared pictures of where his son’s name is now forever etched into the wall. He expressed his appreciation for the honors his son has received at the local and state level in Texas.

Gov. Abbott also spoke about honoring the heroes who died while wearing the badge.

“In Texas, we support our law enforcement officers, period,” said Abbot.

He said the memorial is an eternal reminder of the Texas heroes and it’s a tangible way to honor the men and women who gave everything to protect and serve.

North Texas officers honored:

• Officer Christopher Gibson, Dallas Police (Jan. 2, 2022)
• Corporal Albert Gomez, White Settlement Police (July 27, 2021)
• Sr. Corporal Arnulfo Pargas, Dallas Police (Sept. 23, 2021)
• Detective Rodney Mooneyham, Denton Police (Oct.16, 2021)
• Officer Brandon Tsai, Grand Prairie Police (Jan. 14, 2022)
• Officer Steve Nothem, Carrollton Police (Sept. 18, 2022)

Family and mourners gathered at Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth to say their goodbyes much sooner than any of them could have imagined.

Aybar’s aunt, Rebecca Canelon, says it’s difficult to see her sister in so much pain.

“It’s unbearable,” she said. “It’s overwhelming knowing that my sister now has to process to carry his remains back to the Dominican Republic.”

The family says the 30-year-old had more life to live and plans with his young son and family.

“He was a kind soul. Carlos was a gentle giant,” said Canelon.

According to Fort Worth police, Aybar was found with multiple gunshot wounds at an apartment complex on Arch Adams Lane where he worked in maintenance. Officers were able to locate the person responsible for the shooting, later identified as Devin Deron Smith.

Police say Smith, came to the leasing office upset over documents left on his door. A witness called Aybar to help with the situation and that’s when he was shot. Now, his family is left with memories and unfulfilled plans.

“He wanted to be here with cousins and family,” Canelon said.

According to jail records, Smith remains in jail on a $150,000 bond.

Aybar’s family tells NBC 5 they are considering legal action after hearing reports of several complaints against Smith at the apartment complex prior to the shooting.

A representative for CWS Apartment Homes, which operates The Marq on West 7^th, referred NBC 5 to a previous statement when we asked for a comment Wednesday:

“CWS Apartment Homes is devastated by the senseless and untimely loss of our dedicated team member and friend, Carlos Aybar.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.  CWS is also focused on ensuring that our local team members have the support they need at this difficult time.  We want to assure our residents, employees, and our Fort Worth community that safety is our top priority and that we are fully cooperating with and supporting law enforcement’s investigation.” 

Fort Worth Apr 26

Family of Fort Worth Apartment Shooting Victim Considering Legal Action, Attorneys Say

House Bill 3556, sponsored by Texas Rep. Lynn Stucky, R-Sanger, would allow the head of local law enforcement to issue a localized alert when a child is missing without confirmation of an abduction. That is the high threshold requirement needed to issue an Amber Alert.

Dubbed an “Athena Alert”, the bill unanimously passed the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety. It was named after Athena Strand, the 7-year-old girl who vanished from her Paradise home in Nov. 2022 and found dead two days later.

A Wise County grand jury charged Tanner Horner, a package delivery who delivered packages to Strand’s home the day she disappeared, with kidnapping and murder. According to police, Horner confessed that he accidentally hit the girl with his truck and panicked when she said she would tell her dad. Horner said he killed the girl with his bare hands and then dumped her body.

Strand’s mother Maitlyn Gandy testified before the Texas House committee this week and recalled asking for an Amber Alert to be issued as soon as she found out her daughter was missing.

“Unfortunately, I kept getting met with the same response that she, in her case, did not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert to be issued,” Gandy said. “I don’t want someone to feel how I feel. I don’t want a mother to have to carry home an urn with her children’s ashes. I don’t want to watch another grandparent mourn the way my dad did.”

The legislation, if passed, would allow law enforcement to activate an alert in a localized area within a 100-mile radius and neighboring counties shortly after a child goes missing. Benson Varghese, Gandy’s attorney, also testified in Austin this week.

Issuing the ‘Athena alert’ would be up to the discretion of law enforcement officials, Varghese said.

“There’s a reason the threshold is so high for an Amber Alert. It’s because it is a statewide notification that could even go to multiple states,” he said. “Now having this tool that allows law enforcement to get the word out would be really helpful, particularly in rural areas. In an urban environment, you’ve got lots of media coverage but the farther out you, the less coverage you might have. Less systems you’ll have in place to get a word out like this.”

With the bill passing the committee without objection, supporters of the bill are hoping it will be fast-tracked for a House vote.

The retailer, which in February filed a second bankruptcy in three years, has been closing stores in recent years, but it still has 59 stores in Texas, including 18 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The closings come as Bed Bath & Beyond is also shutting down operations. That’s a lot of inventory hitting the market, possibly putting a dent in home goods sales at other retailers for the next few months.

The sale of Tuesday Morning, founded in Dallas in 1974 as a closeout retailer of gift and home merchandise, was approved at an afternoon hearing Thursday before Judge Edward L. Morris in the Fort Worth division of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Hilco Merchant Resources is paying more than $32 million for the company. The liquidation means a couple thousand employees at Tuesday Morning’s North Dallas headquarters and stores will be terminated as store operations wind down over the next few weeks.

To read the full article, visit our partners at the Dallas Morning News.

Owner and pitmaster at Austin’s Interstellar BBQ, John Bates, explains how important brisket is to Texas culture.

“Texas barbecue is definitely built around a few key concepts,” he said. “It’s very much driven by offset smokers. Our style is typically very low and slow with a lot of smoke and clean flavors going through the pits. It’s also built on mostly brisket. It’s definitely the most important item in all Texas barbecue.”

Pitmaster at Corkscrew BBQ in Spring, Will Buckman, discusses why he left his career in communications to open the restaurant.

“I was spending a lot of time out in the driveway cooking these things for free to share with friends and family,” Buckman said. “It wasn’t until my wife stepped in because she was fighting for my time that said, you know, you should really be charging for these efforts.”

And Texas Monthly BBQ Editor Daniel Vaughn tells host Baylee Friday what he looks for when he reviews a new restaurant.

“Almost every barbecue joint in the state has sliced brisket, ribs, pork ribs, and sausage. So I usually start there,” Vaughn said. “I’ll ask if the sausage is housemade. If not, I’ll probably look for something else on the menu. Like maybe a smoked turkey, which has gotten a lot more popular in Texas over the last decade.”

Listen to Texas Wants to Know in the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Friday marked what would have been Ja’Shawn Poirier’s 17^th birthday. Poirier was killed on March 20 after he was shot outside Lamar High School before classes started.

“It doesn’t feel right. It’s off. He’s missing when he’s supposed to be here,” his mother Rashone Jacob said Friday.

According to Arlington Police, Poirier was sitting on the steps at Lamar High School when another student walked up and pulled out a shotgun before shooting. The 15-year-old suspect was detained and taken into custody.

Poirier’s older sister Nautica Jacob dropped him off at school that morning. Jacob recalled getting home about 10 minutes later before she got the call that he had been shot.

“It’s been very hard for me. I have not been able to sleep,” she said. “I never really knew how other people’s pain felt when it happened to them until it happened to me. Like, now I actually understand their pain and how they feel. Now I can relate.”

Lamar High School principal Andy Hagman recalled rushing to the teen.

“When you hear that shots were fired on the east side of the school, it’s stunning. But you quickly move into action. From there, it was just a race,” Hagman recalled. “To see one of your kids in what was very clearly a life or death situation was just unreal, but you just fall into action.”

Part of the ceremony Friday included a balloon release for Poirier. The crowd wished him a happy birthday as green balloons filled the sky.

Kim Cardwell, the mother of a Lamar High School senior, did not know Poirier’s family prior to the March 20 shooting. Cardwell held onto her son Dalton during the ceremony and said she felt the need to attend to show support as a parent.

“Could have been any one of us,” Cardwell said. “Such sadness for her [Jacob] That she won’t have her son anymore.”

A motive for the shooting has not been released.

Families believe changes in the law can save lives, but there’s only a month left to get it done. The Legislative session ends on Memorial Day.

Many North Texans have been involved in the progress some bills are making in the Capitol, including Carrollton Police Chief Roberto Arredondo.

“I have never come to the Capitol, to testify on anything,” he said in front of lawmakers during a House committee hearing on Tuesday.

But Arredondo says he’s doing it for the future of his city.

“We’re fighting the good fight,” he told NBC 5 on Friday.

He spoke this week in support of House Bill 1581, which would increase felony offenses for drug dealers tied to overdoses or deaths. The bill’s next step is to move off to the House floor.

“I know they get it and they understand the struggles and our plight. I felt very good coming away from that committee meeting that they were going to act in our favor,” said Arredondo.

Carrollton has seen nearly a dozen overdoses and three deaths among school children in a matter of months earlier this year.

“What’s frustrating about it is people know what it does. But the addiction to the opioid is so strong that they can’t fight it, as they should,” he said.

Arredondo says this bill and ones like it can’t pass soon enough.

“We’re depending on them to give us the resources we need so that we can rid our great communities of this poison,” he said. “We need to have stronger laws that will help us prosecute these manufacturers and dealers that are supplying our kids with this.”

Debbie Petersen of Carrollton also testified with the chief this week, sharing the loss of her adult son Matt last year.

“He stopped breathing within one minute and all of his dreams were crushed,” she said. “I am hoping that Austin will step up and be the voice of my child, Matt Harvey, as well as the hundreds and thousands that have died due to fentanyl.”

With just weeks to go before the session ends, time is running out to address numerous fentanyl bills in Austin.

“We’re in crunch time right now. We’re needing bills to get through the House as well as the Senate on harm reduction and as well as prevention and education,” said Stefanie Turner, founder of Texas Against Fentanyl.

Turner lost her 19-year-old son, Tucker Roe, to an illicit Percocet pill that was bought from a peer on social media. After his passing, she immediately began sharing Tucker’s story to help prevent others from suffering the deadly effects of this dangerous drug that is devastating our communities.

She has also been busy this session connecting with other mothers and lawmakers, following the progress of the bills that can alter the fentanyl crisis. She’s pushing for a bill that would require fentanyl education in schools.

“My son, the first time that he used, he did not know what fentanyl was and neither did I,” said Turner.

Another bill, House Bill 6, calls for prosecuting fentanyl deaths as murder. Both the education bills and HB6 are making progress in the House and Senate.

But a key senate bill calling to legalize fentanyl detecting test strips is stalling. It led to protesters taking over parts of the Capitol on Thursday, demanding more action before the session ends in a month.

“I don’t feel that it’s happening fast enough,” said Turner. “We know fentanyl was a priority item and we’re still not making much headway through the Senate yet. So we need those bills to get on through.”

Top officials confirm the new approach to service in the far southeast Dallas County community of Sand Branch.

Bottled water always sits close to residents there.

“When the church and other people come around they bring water and we use this for drinking water,” resident Norma Ghant said.

In the 17 years she said she has lived there it was never safe to drink water from wells that became contaminated decades ago.

Resident Johnny Chambers said he has lived in Sand Branch since 1988 and heard many past conversations about adding utilities that residents with very low incomes could not afford to install themselves.

“There’s been so many times, everybody be coming here talking, talking, nothing was ever done,” Chambers said.

A former Freedman’s Town community, Sand Branch was a refuge for former slaves. It once had hundreds of families.

Chambers said he stayed as others left.

“I got to where I’m older, there ain’t too much I can do anymore and I just enjoy being here with my friends,” Chambers said.

When groundwater contamination was confirmed in the early 1980s, long before his time in office, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said buyouts were offered, but they fell short of what most families needed for new homes.

“Most homeowners ended up with an average of $350 to go find a place to live,” Jenkins said.

The county judge recently volunteered to deliver bottled water in Sand Branch. Jenkins said he visited the community Saturday with the regional Environmental Protection Agency administrator to help draft a new plan for the state and federal money necessary for utility lines.

“There’s a renewed interest in getting something done and getting it done quickly,” Jenkins said. “We’re all working together to see what those next steps are. The money will come from a variety of sources.”

Jenkins said connections could come from the Dallas Water Utilities Plant that’s right beside Sand Branch. But the community is in an unincorporated area with no city to receive the funds and oversee the work.

A special utility corporation may need to be created to accomplish the task.

Jenkins said the estimated cost of $6 million years ago is likely more than double that much today.

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas, District 30), who took office in January, now represents the community.

“It’s a situation that the majority of us wouldn’t even contemplate, not in today’s time,” Crockett said.

She confirmed Friday that she has been working with Jenkins and other officials on funding and solutions.

“This area actually qualifies as rural and actually there may be some more opportunities to help out this project for funding through USDA as well,” Crockett said. “If it’s something that somebody can lay out in a very clear plan then it’s my job to look at it.”

Affordable housing developer Derek Avery said he has been involved in the talks. He said utility service could support new homes in Sand Branch.

Ghant said she believes all the people involved now will make a difference in running water for Sand Branch.

“I got faith and I think it’s going to happen,” she said.

Johnny Chambers said it would be a welcome improvement.

“I would like it,” he said.

Jenkins said a community meeting on the project is scheduled for May 20 in Sand Branch.

“Art just brings everybody together,” Art in the Square Event Chair Kathy Talley said. “It doesn’t matter what your walk of life, your background, if you’re not artistic like me, or if you’re very artistic.”

The juried 3-day festival has about 200 artists who were selected to have booths.

“Just setting up is the hardest part! If we could just skip this part,” Jeribai Andrew-Jaja said with a chef’s kiss. “It would be good, haha!”

Andrew-Jaja uses charcoal and ink to make his hyperrealism artwork of animals and people. At a glance, they look so real, they could be photographs.

“I like telling stories using other people as subjects and also animals,” Andrew-Jaja said pointing to a piece with an elephant family with orange butterflies. “That is a charcoal drawn entirely, with a touch of color.”

Those who attend Art in the Square will notice event t-shirts with sunflowers. That is the art of Niki Gulley, who won a contest to be on this year’s event T-shirt.

“Oh my gosh,” Gulley said smiling. “It is so cool! I love it! I feel so honored that they picked my painting for the T-shirts.”

There are kid zones with face painting and crafts, and stages for entertainment. Art in the Square is a fundraiser for 28 local charities.

“So when you come out and spend your money on food and beverage and you enjoy your time here, you are doing a lot to give back and you’re helping us give back,” Talley said.

Art in the Square runs through Sunday, April 30.

Dallas Police said officers responding to a family violence call at a home on the 2900 block of Cypress Avenue at about 9:45 p.m. arrived to find two people with apparent gunshot wounds. Both of the victims were hospitalized and both are expected to survive their injuries.

Police have not yet said what led to the shooting inside the home or confirmed any relationship between the gunman and the victims.

The man police said did the shooting tried to hide in a nearby wooded area, near Cypress Avenue and Briggs Street. That’s where Dallas Police focused their search for the gunman using both a helicopter and officers on the ground.

During their search for the man, an officer and his K-9 partner came under fire at about 2:30 a.m. and were injured. The officer, though shot multiple times, was able to return fire, police said, hitting the man at least once.

The officer had injuries to his shoulder and leg and was taken to Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas for treatment. None of the injuries are considered life-threatening.

The officer’s K-9 partner was also hurt and was transported to an emergency veterinarian with injuries that were also not considered life-threatening.

Late Friday morning, Dallas Police confirmed the gunman had died but shared no further information about his identity or what led to the shooting.

The investigation into both incidents is ongoing and Dallas Police said they expected to release more information on Monday including video from the officer’s body camera.

The claims come in a civil suit that says the head coach actively tried to keep one of her cheerleaders from reporting an alleged sexual assault.

Made famous by the Netflix documentary series “Cheer,” Navarro College in Corsicana on Thursday defended itself from allegations it tried to dissuade one of its students from reporting an alleged sexual assault.

According to a federal lawsuit, the plaintiff, a female former Navarro College cheerleader, alleges a male cheerleader sexually assaulted her in a dorm room in the fall of 2021.

The lawsuit further alleges that head coach Monica Aldama promised to help advance the cheer career of the plaintiff if she remained quiet.

It’s part of a 20-page claim that alleges Title IX violations against Aldama, Navarro College, athletic director Michael Lander and Title IX coordinator Elizabeth Pillans.

“Defendants permitted a campus condition rife with sexual assault and lacking the basic standards of support for victims as required by state and federal law,” the lawsuit said.

Navarro College told NBC 5 in a statement it’s aware of the lawsuit and denies any allegations of wrongdoing.

“The safety and welfare of students is always of utmost priority,” the statement said. “Navarro College prohibits sexual harassment and sexual misconduct against all students and is deeply committed to providing an educational environment free from sex discrimination and sexual assault.”

Navarro College added it has policies in place for reporting, investigating and responding to allegations but said it would not comment further because of the pending lawsuit

“Cheer” propelled the small college to international fame in early 2020 but scandals followed. One of the show’s stars, Jerry Harris, was sentenced to federal prison imprisonment for soliciting sex with minors. A coach and choreographer, Robert Joseph Scianna Jr., was arrested in Virginia in 2021 and pleaded guilty to a solicitation charge.

“I’m very, very proud of Isaiah. I have no doubt in my mind that Isaiah was an integral part in saving his mom from a life of disability,” said nurse Rachel Cochran.

It was late last August when Isaiah Subia was home sick from school and realized something wasn’t right.

“I was folding laundry on the couch and my mom fell when she was trying to put up a dish. She fell on her knees,” he said.

His mother, Stephanie Subia, couldn’t speak.

On one hand, Isaiah dialed his grandmother. On the other, he called 911.

“I was scared and nervous,” he said.

When medics arrived, the then 11-year-old hopped into the ambulance, bringing along his mother’s medication. He talked first responders through her symptoms.

When they arrived at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center, Cochran was among the first to respond.

She said she immediately recognized that Subia had suffered a stroke.

“When Stephanie came into the hospital, she couldn’t speak at all. Not only that, but she couldn’t move one side of her body. But with the help of her son, we were able to treat her in 27 minutes which is amazing,” she said.

It’s also life-saving time.

After 10 days in the hospital, Subia returned home to her family.

She’s undergone physical, cognitive and occupational therapies, and says she still has more recovery ahead.

Still, she’s grateful to be back in her normal routine.

“I give God all the glory because if he wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be alive today,” said Subia.

As he accepted his award, Isaiah said he believes the actions he took are what any kid would do for someone they love.

“I just want to say I would do anything for my mom and I love her so much,” he said.

Methodist awarded Isaiah the Community Health Hero Award, which was established to recognize people in the community doing great things to help save lives.

Inspectors tied to state-licensed inspection shops are suspected of taking cash in exchange for falsely passing cars.

DPS officials said at least five arrests had been made so far, and more than two dozen inspection stations had been locked out of the state system.

Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview at DPS headquarters in Austin, DPS Director Steven McCraw told NBC 5 Investigates he is frustrated that the state’s lack of technology to prevent the fraud has created extra work for law enforcement.

“It forces us to divert resources from high priority matters to lower priority matters just for a period of time so we can have an impact,” McCraw told NBC 5 Senior Investigative Reporter Scott Friedman.

As a series of reports from NBC 5 Investigates has shown, the state’s vehicle inspection computer system – overseen by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, is not programmed to prevent an inspector from issuing a false passing report even though the system captures data – red flags – suggesting many inspections are fake.

In the weeks since we started asking questions, the TCEQ has activated a feature in the computer that at least locks out some inspectors after they are suspected of running multiple fake inspections.

NBC 5 Investigates has learned from TCEQ officials that the feature was created more than 10 years ago, but was never activated. 

In a statement, TCEQ said DPS did not ask them to turn it on until last month.

DPS told NBC 5 it was not aware the feature existed.

McCraw acknowledged Thursday that some of the current problems could have been headed off if those lockouts had been put in place a decade ago.

“Absolutely, there’s no question about it,” McCraw said.

Since the lockouts were put in place, DPS said more than 100 inspectors had been prevented from accessing the system.

McCraw said, going forward, his agency is working with TCEQ to assure that more technology changes will be made to stem the tide of fake inspections.

“It could have been done. It should have been done. It’s going to be done,” McCraw said.

But in order to prevent vehicle inspectors from falsely passing cars in real-time – instead of after the fact – TCEQ said it would also have to modify the emissions analyzer software. 

In a statement, the agency told NBC 5, “Until this change is made these (falsely inspected) vehicles will still receive their inspection report at the end of the inspection.”

That allows the car to get Texas plates even though it never really passed.

McCraw is calling on the TCEQ to make that software change now to help cut the number of stations and inspectors his agency needs to investigate.

“And, the sooner they can do that, the better,” McCraw said.

“I’m confident they want the same thing as we do. And I can assure you that the both of us will be working towards that end,” McCraw told NBC 5.

But in a statement Thursday, TCEQ said it had not decided yet whether it will make the change McCraw is requesting.

“The TCEQ is having discussions with DPS about possible ways to enhance the enforcement tools for the I/M (inspection & maintenance) program. However, no decision has been made and the TCEQ is not modifying the analyzer software at this time,” the statement said.

For now, DPS troopers often have to manually search inspection data to identify locations suspected of falsely passing cars, and then visit them to conduct surveillance to see if the business is passing cars that are not really at the shop. Experts say stations conducting fraudulent inspections can now use emissions system simulators or surrogate cars to falsify an inspection, and the vehicle that passes doesn’t even have to visit the shop.

NBC 5 Investigates rode along with some of the state troopers deployed on the inspection enforcement operation in Dallas this week.

At several locations, troopers found the inspection business they were looking for was not at its registered address, and neither was the emissions analyzer device the department suspects is being used to conduct fake inspections.

McCraw said this highlights the challenges of investigations after the fact, versus cutting off the bad actors at the start of the process.

“That’s why I talked about prevention on the front end”, McCraw said. “Because If the business is not there, or the business is there, but the inspector is not there and he’s off-site, there’s no way to triangulate exactly where they’re at. So it’s very difficult from an enforcement standpoint.”

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DPS Steps Up Fake Vehicle Inspection Crackdown Following NBC 5 Investigation

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Texas Lawmakers Push for Action After NBC 5 Investigation Details Claims of Widespread Vehicle Inspection Fraud

Texas Senate Bill 1820, authored by Sen. Bob Hall, has passed the Senate. The bill is now in a House committee, according to Sen. Hall.

“It makes it real clear that use of any aspect of it, if there’s internet, computers involved in it cannot be done,” Hall told NBC 5 Thursday. “It’s the issue itself being outside the bounds of what the Legislature really intended in allowing the lottery to take place and not be done such that it opens it up to encouraging an addict to easily spend family fortune.”

Under Texas law, all purchases of Texas Lottery tickets are required to be conducted at licensed brick-and-mortar retailer locations. Lottery courier services, which are third-party companies that purchase tickets on behalf of Texas Lottery players and deliver them digitally to players via third-party apps, added a new dynamic to a recent Lotto Texas jackpot run.

The Texas Lottery Commission said after seven months and 93 drawings without a jackpot winner, a winning Lotto Texas ticket was sold in Colleyville last Saturday.

The interest in this particular jackpot made the recent Lotto Texas run unique, according to executive director Gary Grief.

“It created a phenomenon. It’s something that I have seen occur around the country and other parts of the world over time, but we have never experienced it before here in Texas,” Grief said. “What that phenomenon was, was purchasing groups came to Texas and they saw that the odds of winning the jackpot was 1 in 25 million. They saw that the jackpot was $95 million and they started buying tickets in bulk.”

The winning ticket went to one of those bulk purchases bought at Hooked on MT, a store on Colleyville Boulevard. Kevin Kramer is the operator of Hooked on MT, which serves both retail customers and helps fulfill orders placed with their courier app, Mido Lotto.

The winning ticket purchased last Saturday was not purchased on the app, Kramer told NBC 5. The company strongly opposes any moves to prohibit the courier model, it said in a statement.

“Customer data clearly shows that couriers are making Lottery more accessible and less regressive by serving higher income consumers who don’t carry cash these days and often don’t go into traditional Lottery retailers. Couriers have helped the Texas Lottery give more funding to their beneficiaries which include education and veterans, sourced from a more affluent customer base, who are often not already heavy Lottery players, given the inconvenience of taking cash to a corner store in the modern day. It also helps consumers who are unable to leave their home for health or other reasons to order Lottery tickets safely,” a statement to NBC 5 read.

Asked whether the Texas Lottery Commission has a stance on couriers, Grief said they do not have a position.

“We know they exist. We have made it known that they exist,” he said. “In fact, they have been in Texas since about 2016, but just recently, there seems to be a large amount of interest.”

The Texas Lottery Commission added, sales for this Lotto Texas jackpot run were $138.2 million in total. That yielded an estimated $50.6 million for public education over this period of time.

“Here we go,” Elite Classical Coaching Director Catherine Lewellen said as she started class. “To create an elite ballerina, that’s very different.”

Ligon moved to North Texas from New York to study ballet with Lewellen.

“I really want to work with her,” Lewellen said. “She has a natural artistry about her. Some people have it. She has it! That’s something I feel God has blessed her with. She was made to dance.”

“When I first started, everything was pretty much a struggle,” Ligon said. “So I worked every day to try and improve.”

Ligon proved it this month when she competed in the Youth America Grand Prix and won the coveted Hope Award, reserved at the judges’ discretion for a dancer who stands out above the competition in both classical and contemporary ballet.

“I was really happy,” Ligon said. “I didn’t expect it, but I was happy that I got it.”

“At 11, yes! She is 12 now. She turned 12 in January. Still young, but it’s crazy, right?” Lewellen said. “The Hope Award is also about potential. You don’t have to be perfect yet. You have to show you have the potential to be the next star.”

“My end goal is to be a professional at a ballet company and I’d love to tour around the world performing,” Ligon said. “Dancers like me, I want them to see things I’m doing are, like, possible. You can reach any goal you want.”

Lewellen said Ligon is already a sought-after dancer, with scholarship offers.

“I’m really excited to see what’s next,” Ligon said.

In the video, other students are heard laughing, others said, “Oh my God.”

At the beginning of the video, the teacher is heard saying, “The point is not to be offended, it’s his interpretation.” Two minutes into the clip, the teacher said “We’re not trying to set this in pre-Civil War. We’re trying to stay as true to the original text as possible.”

In the days following the incident, people in the community spoke out regarding what happened and also faulted the teacher for not stopping the presentation, which lasted over three minutes.

Local faith leaders, like Rev. Kyev Tatum, pastor of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church and the president of the Ministers Justice Coalition, denounced what happened.

“That kind of racism in our schools we will not tolerate,” said Tatum.

In the past year, he teamed up with students at Texas A&M School of Law to file a complaint with the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

“We’ve been saying there’s something wrong with the system and now at least there’s enough probable cause for the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights to come in and do an investigation,” said Tatum Thursday morning.

He held a news conference to share with other faith leaders and people in the community about the letter he received in return from the Office for Civil Rights, which stated it was going to investigate the situation.

In his complaint, Tatum alleged that Fort Worth Independent School District discriminated against Black Students at R.L. Paschal High School, “by failing to appropriately respond to an incident in April or May 2022 in which a student repeatedly used the N-word during a classroom presentation without intervention from the teacher.”

In the letter addressed to him, the OCR said it’s, “opening Allegation 1 for investigation.” They declined to investigate his second allegation, regarding discrimination against Black students in terms of discipline and access to higher-level courses.

Over the years Tatum has expressed his belief that there’s an underlying issue regarding systemic racism in schools toward Black students.

Tatum said despite only having one of his complaints being looked into, he called it a “win.”

“We plan on changing this system for the better for the next 50 years,” expressed Tatum who said he would like to see tangible changes such as training so that incidents like this don’t happen again.    

FORT WORTH ISD RESPONSE

It’s unclear if the teacher was fired or left on her own terms, but on Thursday the Fort Worth ISD confirmed that the teacher is no longer employed with the district.

In regards to the investigation, Fort Worth ISD said in a statement, “The District will not comment on an ongoing investigation other than to affirm that we are cooperating fully with the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights.”

When the incident initially happened, the Fort Worth ISD denounced it and said in a statement last April, “We are shocked and saddened by what happened in a Paschal High School classroom. Upon learning of this incident, both the school and District took immediate steps to investigate. The language and the actions seen in the video are inexcusable; they are neither representative of nor are they acceptable at any Fort Worth ISD school. The bottom line is this: Fort Worth ISD will not tolerate racism of any kind.  We remain committed to ensuring an environment where all students feel respected and safe.”

Former superintendent Kent Scribner echoed similar sentiments and said at the time: “I am disgusted by the inexcusable behavior that took place in a Paschal High School classroom. There is no place for this kind of language in our society, much less in our schools.  I am appalled by the conduct of the adult in the room and saddened by the message that it sends to our students. It is my recommendation to the Board that this teacher no longer be employed by Fort Worth ISD.”

“He has good-sized ears,” Tim Speck said. “We’ve seen it three or four times a week. Today we saw it. So, I’m sure tomorrow or tomorrow afternoon, Friday afternoon, probably it’ll be around again.”

For the past few months, Speck has spotted a coyote. He thinks it is the same one that keeps returning.

“It’s pretty friendly,” he said. “He doesn’t run from it very often and just kind of watches around.”

Speck recently decided to make a formal report to Dallas Animal Services. His is one of more than 330 currently listed on the city’s heat map. The map is an expansion of the Coyote Management Plan.

The plan launched last year, shortly after a 2-year-old boy was attacked outside their Lake Highlands home on the 9200 block of Royalpine Drive.

Wildlife expert Jacqui Sutherland has helped lead the city’s efforts to educate people on how to coexist with wildlife.

“We’ve had, I mean, thousands of reports coming in from all different avenues. It’s been quite a learning experience being completely immersed in it so quickly,” Sutherland said.

According to Sutherland, of the hundreds of reports submitted, only four coyotes have had to be lethally removed.

“One was absolutely verified as the individual animal that was as that was responsible for the incident, but we ended up removing three other animals from that family,” Sutherland said. “And in the process, we haven’t had to lethally remove any other animals since We haven’t had any escalations towards people. We haven’t had any pets that are on leash with their owners, seriously injured or killed”

“It’s really amazing how the animals work, why this species is so difficult for some people to manage and deal with,” Sutherland said.

She looks for signs of immediate threat to people and pets as well as the factors that could attract coyotes to the area.

“We’re still dealing with a lot of cat feeders and a lot of people feed,” Sutherland said. “They just leave an abundance of food out overnight on a porch, maybe free access to food and water, you know, 24 hours a day. The coyotes, they figure that out very, very quickly.”

Sutherland said a feeding ordinance could help mitigate the issue.

“The biggest thing that’s coming next is the approval of the of the feeding ordinance that we’ve been working so hard on. It was stuck in council for a while. We did a lot of different presentations,” Sutherland said. “We’re trying to educate about how it’s appropriate to feed and how it’s not appropriate to feed. I do think that’s going to make a big difference. And it’ll also encourage the feral cat colony caretakers.”

However, each case differs. In the case of Speck, Sutherland said food is not the issue.

“There’s a lot of attractants just in this backyard with a heavily wooded on that side. That storage container that’s off the ground, which means opossums and skunks and rodents are living underneath it,” Sutherland said. “So, he’s here for that. All this woodpile, this, you know, attracts mice and rats and snakes, you know what I mean? So there’s a reason he’s here, and his presence is actually beneficial. We just want him to remember that he’s a guest in our territory.”

Sutherland installed game cameras on Speck’s property.

“I’ll be able to get eyes on the animals, see if he’s healthy, does he have any injuries,” Sutherland said. “Usually we can tell if it’s a male or female. We can get an idea of age as well as determine if it’s the same animal that’s coming and going or if it’s actually two or three different ones that are just using the same pathway.”

As of now, Sutherland determined the coyote does not pose a threat to Speck, his family, their dog, or neighbors. Speck said it has given him some peace of mind ahead of the coyote’s next visit.

“I’ll probably at some point give it a name,” Speck said.

Animal Services continues to encourage residents to report all sightings

“When everybody reports what they’re seeing, no matter how basic they think it is, it helps me evaluate the territories, the individuals that are in that territory,” Sutherland said. “I’m able to determine the minute that something starts to go a direction that might lead to a problem. I’m able to intervene, whether it’s door-to-door education, social media education, coming out, investigating the area for natural food sources, unnatural shelter.”

All findings from the city’s Coyote Management Plan can be found on its website here.

To view the coyote heat map, click here.

McKinney Dec 28, 2022

McKinney Family on Edge After Coyote Encounter

Dallas Oct 18, 2022

Dallas City Leaders Provide Update On Addressing Coyote Problem

Dallas May 17, 2022

Dallas' Coyote Hotline Has Been Active With Tips

“You mention President Bush. His change here was, ‘I don’t want this to just be a think tank, I want it to be a do tank as well,’” said Ken Hersh, President and CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

Its opening was historic, a major event in North Texas with 5 presidents in attendance. A decade later, the Bush Center is growing.

President and CEO Ken Hersh says according to a recent economic impact study, the George W. Bush Presidential Center has had a $2 billion of impact on North Texas, welcoming close to 2 million people to the museum,  and many others to their public policy programs.

“That is something you can quantify. The stuff that is hard to quantify is how we have moved the needle on some pretty major public policy areas around opportunity, democracy, and global health and women’s empowerment around the world. And it has just been an incredible run. Inspired by, everything we do, the Bush’s foundational principles of freedom and opportunity, accountability and compassion,” Hersh said.

David Kramer is the Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute.

“We have become a source for sane, sensible, sound, solutions if you pardon the alliteration, on policy problems,” said Kramer said.

Kramer says over the 10 years they have produced more than 50 policy recommendation papers, for federal, state, and local legislators.

“We try to influence policy, we try to influence the influencers, and we try to improve people’s lives on a daily bases,” Kramer said.

Both say that President and Mrs. Bush remain very involved. Hersh is optimistic about the future of the Bush’s Center lasting impact.

“Number one is, we got great thought leadership and people really know who we are now. The second is, our voice around civility and around good ideas that are well researched, that are based on values and principals, are needed in this county today,” Hersh added.

To celebrate the 10^th anniversary, there is free admission week, courtesy of Sewell Automotive

State highway department planners revealed plans for the Interstate 30 segment from Ferguson Road in East Dallas to Bass Pro Drive in Garland in a public and virtual meeting Thursday evening.

The Texas Department of Transportation meeting will be held at the Mesquite Arts Center at 1527 N. Galloway Avenue in Mesquite for those who wish to see the plans, hear from state officials and share comments in person.

It will be available online here.

The online meeting materials will be available through May 12 for public comment.

“We’ve got a very preliminary plan and we’re taking it to the public tonight to show them our thoughts on it and get their thoughts on it, and we want to make sure that with the investment we’re putting into this corridor that it’s meeting as many needs as possible,” TxDOT spokesperson Kenna Mitchell said.

The estimated cost for the improvements is $622 million.

Drivers said the current roadway road gives them plenty of headaches.

“You’re trying to get home and you’re sitting in traffic for two hours and you’re five minutes from home, so yeah, it gets pretty bad,” driver Breana Chappell said.

The segment east of Ferguson has no feeder roads beside the main freeway lanes. So, accidents cause big delays with no parallel alternative path.

“Certainly, reducing congestion is a very big part of this, and improving safety as well,” Mitchell said. “We’re looking at not only doing improvements to the highway lanes but also in constructing continuous frontage roads, that would have shared use paths for bicycles and pedestrians.”

The 12-mile segment currently includes a reversible express lane with a zipper barrier moved back and forth to change the direction of travel.

Driver Dez Moncurley said he hopes the state plan improves that situation.

“Make it wider so you could have one side going and one side coming back this way,” he said.

A construction project is already underway for new ramps to Interstate 635 that crosse over I-30. A new and wider bridge over Lake Ray Hubbard to the east of this segment is also under construction. Separate plans for the I-30 segment west of Ferguson Road are soon to be released, Mitchell said.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch issued for North Texas earlier Friday has since been canceled. A Tornado Watch issued for counties south of Dallas-Fort Worth has also been canceled after storms moved east and a cold front arrived.

The Storm Prediction Center had the DFW Metroplex and southern North Texas under an Enhanced/Level 3 risk for severe weather but the area was downgraded at around 3 p.m. to a Slight/Level 2 risk for severe weather.

Storms were expected to develop west of the Dallas-Fort Worth area and move east through the afternoon and evening hours. A couple of stray showers are possible overnight into Saturday morning.

Cooler air will continue to spill into North Texas as we start the weekend. Highs on Saturday afternoon will just climb into the 60s with a stout northwest wind.

LIVE RADAR

Stay informed during severe weather season with our news and weather apps for phones, tablets and TVs. On phones and tablets, choose the breaking and weather alerts you want to receive. More details and links to app stores are here.

hail Apr 28

Your Hail Photos – April 28, 2023

forecast Apr 29

NBC 5 Forecast: The First Week of May: From Seasonable to Above Normal Temperatures

According to the Keller Police Department, Mara is a therapy dog for children with special needs who helps improve socialization and confidence. A year ago, she was living a very different life.

An affidavit obtained by NBC 5 said a witness called the police at about midnight on July 10, 2022, and reported seeing a man outside of the Keller Library throwing things at a medium-sized dog.

When officers arrived they heard the dog yelping and a man shouting. The officer then saw the man, who was shirtless and near an adjacent playground, pick up the dog and slam it down first onto a nearby car and then onto the ground. According to the affidavit, the man then lifted the dog off the ground by a leash around her neck and strung her over the monkey bars.

Police said they approached the man while the dog was hanging from the monkey bars, at which point he let the dog down and walked to his car, according to court documents.

The officer went to the dog, who was left under a play structure panting and bleeding from her back feet.

Animal control officers took custody of the dog and, according to court documents, caretakers determined that the animal had scarring from previous injuries and that the nails on her back paws had been ripped out.

Investigators said in an affidavit the man, identified as Arin Bright, was arrested and taken to the Keller Jail without further incident. Bright was charged with cruelty to non-livestock animals, “because he intentionally, knowingly or recklessly tortured an animal causing unjustifiable pain or suffering.”

On April 27, a Tarrant County court found Bright guilty of animal cruelty. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Property value notices for Tarrant County property owners began arriving at homes on April 15, starting the clock on the 30-day countdown property owners have to review the appraisal and file a notice of protest should they disagree with the district’s valuation.

The annual reappraisal of property values is done to account for changes in the local real estate market and to provide local taxing authorities with the current estimated value of property in the district. As property valuations have increased in recent years so has the tax burden for property owners. In turn, more property owners have been filing protests to challenge their appraisals.

The volume of property owners attempting to file protests has apparently led to the TAD.org website becoming unstable, with property owners reporting the site either being slow to respond or failing to load altogether.

On Thursday, a message appeared at the top of the TAD.org website saying they were working to resolve functionality issues and that the deadline to file a notice of protest had been extended until Tuesday, May 30, and that protests filed by that date would be considered “timely filed.”

“Our team is actively working on addressing previous functionality and adding new services. Thank you for your patience and understanding during high volume levels of activity. Any 2023 protests filed after May 15th but before May 30, 2023, will be considered a timely filed protest this year,” the message said.

Shortly before noon Thursday, TAD Chief Appraiser Jeff Law shared a letter on Twitter that he emailed to Keller Mayor Armin Mizani addressing the district’s response to the website troubles, saying that his team has been working “around the clock” to improve the site’s functionality.

“Our staff is actively working to address the functionality of the website, ensuring the tools property owners have used in the past are available to them for this protest season,” Law wrote. “It has always been our goal to provide property owners with functional tools to review and address their appraisals. We apologize for the frustration and confusion many have felt in regards to our website and we thank you for challenging us to continue enhancing our services.”

Law was responding to a Letter sent by Mizani where the mayor said it was “inexcusable” that the TAD’s website hasn’t been fully functional since November 2022 and that property owners are not yet able to reliably challenge their valuations online. Mizani urged the TAD to seek remedies including considering extending the deadline for property owners to file their protests.

In his response Thursday, Law addressed the extension of the protest deadline and added that they also expect to restore public access to their Automated Market Value tool by May 3, that’s the tool that allows property owners to protest their valuations online without a face-to-face appointment with the Appraisal Review Board.

An additional hurdle this year is that all property owners are required to create a new online account on the TAD website before they can file a notice of protest, even if they previously had an account registered with the district.

That process, too, has been problematic for some users who have reported trouble successfully setting up new accounts and getting access to the site.

Once an account is successfully created, users should be able to file a notice of protest and, by May 3, they should be able to fight their appraisal using the county’s online tool.

The ability of homesteads to file a protest electronically is a requirement for appraisal districts serving counties with populations greater than 500,000, according to the Texas Comptroller.

“If an appraisal district has an internet website, it must permit electronic filing of a protest for incorrect appraised value and/or unequal appraisal of property for which a residence homestead exemption has been granted, with certain exceptions. Counties with populations of 500,000 or more are required to do so and thus must have a website,” the comptroller wrote in a Jan. 1, 2023 document (below).

For those who have filed a notice of protest, hearings with the Appraisal Review Board were originally scheduled to begin on May 22. It is not yet clear if that schedule has been changed.

The Tarrant Appraisal District is responsible for local property tax appraisals and exemption administration for 73 jurisdictions or taxing units in Tarrant County. The TAD does not set tax rates, those are established by each taxing unit (county, city, school district). Property appraisals are determined by the appraisal district and are then used by the various taxing units to calculate and allocate a property owner’s annual tax burden.

KELLER MAYOR’S LETTER TO THE TARRANT APPRAISAL DISTRICT

TARRANT APPRAISAL DISTRICT RESPONSE TO KELLER MAYOR

TEXAS COMPTROLLER – PROPERTY TAXPAYER REMEDIES

property taxes Apr 17

2023 Property Value Notices Sent Out by Tarrant Appraisal District

Tarrant County Feb 24

Tarrant Appraisal District Chair Steps Down After Recall Initiated in Keller

Tarrant County Jun 29, 2022

Tarrant Appraisal District to Address Complaints Targeting Property Tax Consultant

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

According to a report by our media partners at The Dallas Morning News, passed away of natural causes in his hotel room after falling ill Friday during the Stars’ playoff loss to the Wild in St. Paul, Minn., said his wife, Amy.

Carlton was pinch-hitting on the hockey beat, his first assignment at The Dallas Morning News, after nearly 15 years covering college sports in general and the Big 12 in particular.

He was at home on nearly any topic in his 23 years at The Dallas Morning News. His bosses made good use of the breadth of his expertise.

Click here to read the full report from on The Dallas Morning News website.

The effort is spearheaded by the Uvalde CISD Moving Forward Foundation, a nonprofit founded in the weeks after the tragedy.

At the North Texas Commission headquarters, the group’s leaders and CEO of Huckabee Architects, Chris Huckabee, provided updates on the project that’s set to break ground in July.

They also shared plans for the proposed 120,000-square-foot school that would serve second, third and fourth graders.

Designs came together following months of meetings with parents, teachers and survivors about how those involved could create a safe and innovative environment for a community still reeling from trauma.

Leaders say forming the nonprofit was the fastest way to help the community build a new school, rather than a bond referendum that could take years to play out.

“I think I began to think in that moment, what could you do? What would be the thing you could get involved in, that you could do to help the town of Uvalde and to help these children move forward after such a tragic event?” said Foundation Board Secretary and former State Senator Beverly Powell.  

The Moving Forward Foundation said to date, it’s raised about 70% of its $60 million goal.

The North Texas philanthropic community has set a $25 million target with Huckabee, Inc., Rainwater Charitable Foundation, The Meadows Foundation, VF Corp, and The Morris Foundation among its top donors.

The Moving Forward Foundation said it’s now focused on a public fundraising campaign as it seeks to reach its goal.

Uvalde Apr 17

Fort Worth Firm Designs New School for Uvalde

Uvalde School Shooting Jan 19

First Renderings for the New Uvalde School Released

The Connection Apr 17

New School for Uvalde: The Connection

Carlos Aybar, 30, has been identified as the man killed Friday at The Marq on West 7^th. According to Fort Worth Police, Aybar was found with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers were able to locate the person responsible for the shooting, later identified as Devin Deron Smith.

Police say Smith came to the office of the apartment complex over paperwork left at his door. A witness reportedly contacted Aybar, who lived at the complex and worked in maintenance there, because they were in fear of Smith. According to police, Aybar tried to get Smith to leave and was shot multiple times.

Gabriela Perdomo, the mother of Aybar’s son, said they were supposed to meet up and take their child to the park that evening. Perdomo called him multiple times before she learned he died.

“He was full of life, you know? Hearing that he was killed like that, I can’t even believe it. I just can’t,” Perdomo said. “Like, tell me you died because you went to the mountain and you got frozen, I don’t know. Not like that.”

James Trujillo is one of the attorneys representing Aybar’s family.

“The bond amount being set at $150,000. That’s ridiculous because all he [Smith] has to do is come up with $15,000 and he gets to walk out and walk free,” Trujillo said.

Trujillo said he has spoken with multiple tenants at Marq, and they reportedly contacted the management at Marq and the police about Smith’s past conduct.

“It’s my position that they should have started the eviction process months ago,” he said. “Mr. Smith chased one of the tenants with the pitbull, a young female. He also allowed the pitbull to bite one of the leasing agents in the building.”

According to online records, Smith remains in jail as of Wednesday and has not entered a plea in this case. His initial court appearance is set for next week. NBC 5 reached out to court-appointed attorneys for Smith. Our request has not been returned as of this writing.

Aybar’s aunt Rebeca Canelon-Diaz said their battle for justice is only beginning.

“We, as family, we are seeking justice. However at the moment, we cannot even mourn Carlos, our hero, due to the fact that we are tormented by the possible release of this despicable monster,” Canelon-Diaz said.

A representative for CWS Apartment Homes, which operates The Marq on West 7^th, referred NBC 5 to a previous statement when we asked for a comment Wednesday:

“CWS Apartment Homes is devastated by the senseless and untimely loss of our dedicated team member and friend, Carlos Aybar.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.  CWS is also focused on ensuring that our local team members have the support they need at this difficult time.  We want to assure our residents, employees, and our Fort Worth community that safety is our top priority and that we are fully cooperating with and supporting law enforcement’s investigation.” 

The boys, 13-year-old Jaden Alvarado and 7-year-old Isaac Martinez, were playing outside near their home in South Fort Worth when lightning struck a nearby tree.

Their uncle, Carlos Martinez, said it was not raining and the weather conditions were not alarming at the time of the strike.

“It was like right now,” he told NBC 5 on Thursday. “Partially blue skies, a little overcast. Nothing really going on.”

Thunderstorms were moving through North Texas throughout the day Wednesday but picked up in intensity in certain parts of DFW. Although conditions appeared fine in the neighborhood at the time, lightning from a storm cell was close enough to catch the family off guard.

The boys’ mother, Jessica Martinez Alvarado, said it happened so fast.

“We were sitting outside as we do every day with our neighbor and we were sitting in the garage while they were running around playing,” recalled Martinez Alvarado. “It started to thunder and lightning. Out of nowhere, we just heard a big pop sound and then it looked like fireworks were coming down the tree.”

Lightning had struck a tree nearby the boys, who were close enough to be affected. First responders believe the lightning ricocheted and struck Jaden and Isaac, causing them to lose consciousness and collapse.

“When I looked over there, Isaac was laying down face first, head down. And Jaden was over there. I just remember screaming, ”Somebody, my boys, my boys, my boys.’ And I started screaming for my brother to come out,” she said.  “I thought I had lost my boys. It’s the worst feeling ever. I would never wish that on anyone.”

As neighbors rushed to help, her brother Carlos was the first to desperately check for vitals.

“Completely knocked out, unresponsive. I called to them, I asked for them to squeeze my hand,” he said. “Until I started massaging my younger nephew’s chest is when he first blinked at me and made a motion to try to speak to me. He wasn’t able to speak to me. He knew that I was there and every time that I called his name, he reacted to it. I continued calling his name.”

MedStar EMS crews responded immediately and rushed the brothers to Cook Children’s Medical Center. Doctors say that Jaden was primarily impacted by the lightning and likely suffered a cardiac arrest. The lighting ricocheted from Jaden to Isaac.

According to Cook Children’s, the boys were transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit by Thursday morning, with their mother and family at their side as they rested and played video games.

“They are in a little bit of pain, not a whole bunch,” said Carlos. “They’re more tired, kind of and drained from the experience.”

Jessica said they are still processing what happened to them. The boys said they don’t remember what had happened and they were feeling OK.

“I woke up in an ambulance and I guess I fell asleep and I woke up here,” said Jaden. “[I’m] pretty good. Apparently, I died last night and came back to life.”

Taylor Louden, M.D., Medical Director, Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Cook Children’s Medical Center, said that parents should be cautious and keep their children indoors when there is a severe weather threat or thunder and lightning.

“The boys came in altered and confused,” Louden said. “These boys are very lucky. We’re glad everyone came out OK in this instance.”

If someone is fatally struck by lightning, cardiac arrest is the immediate cause of death. Louden said it is crucial for a lightning strike victim to receive CPR as soon as possible or use an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED). Witnesses should call 911 immediately.

“Fortunately, lightning strikes are very rare, but we do have to be aware [of storms], especially in Texas where storms can come out of nowhere quickly,” Louden said. “Even if storms are in the distance, you’re still at risk.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are less than one in a million and almost 90% of all lightning strike victims survive.

After their brush with Mother Nature, Jessica has a message for other families.

“Don’t let their kids outside when it’s thundering,” she said. “I know it’s a one-in-a-million chance, but you never know, you might be that one. It was two for me.”

ONLINE: Relatives launched an online fundraiser to help support the family’s medical expenses. Click here for more information.

hail Apr 26

Your Hail Photos – April 26, 2023

Erath County Apr 26

Hail Slams Area Near Stephenville in Erath County

Tarrant County Public Health said no human cases have been reported so far this year.

The positive mosquito sample was collected in Euless and falls in line with the typical West Nile Virus season, which runs from April through mid-November.

The county has so far tested 369 mosquito samples this year.

Last year, Tarrant County reported its first West Nile Virus positive mosquito sample on May 11.

How to Protect Yourself From Mosquito Bites

• Dress in long sleeves, pants when outside: For extra protection, spray thin clothing with repellent.
• DEET: Make sure this ingredient is in your insect repellent.
• Drain standing water in your yard and neighborhood: Mosquitoes can develop in any water stagnant for more than three days.

It has been recommended in the past that to avoid mosquito bites you should avoid being outdoors during Dusk and Dawn (the 4 Ds). While this is true for mosquitoes that commonly carry the West Nile virus, other types of mosquitoes that are more likely to carry Zika, dengue and chikungunya are active during the day. When outdoors, no matter what time of day, adjust your dress accordingly and wear insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus as your first line of defense against insect bites

“We’ve revamped the police department. I went out and hired professional policemen to manage the team. I have great supervisors,” Arata said. “I have great men and women working for us that really care about this community and want to be a part of it. And so, they’re out there every day making sure it stays safe.”

The chief said the addition of license plate reading cameras from a company called Flock also boosted public safety.

The cameras are mounted on poles at the edge of town. They can see the license plates of incoming vehicles but not those leaving. The cameras are not marked so drivers may never notice them, but they are on guard around the clock.

“When we first put the system in, we had people coming in in stolen cars. We were able to make arrests, felony warrants, sex offenders, people with protective orders. All those things we didn’t know, people who were transient in our town. But now we know,” Arata said.

Crime rate figures from the website SafeWise.com for 2023 show Trophy Club has only 0.1 violent incidents and 4.6 property crime incidents per 1,000 people. The state average is 4.6 violent crimes and 21.9 property crimes per 1,000 people, far more than Trophy Club.

The Town of Trophy Club is small. The population is around 14,000 with about 4,000 homes and just four square miles. Arata said Trophy Club has 23 officers and four civilian police employees. He said the officers stay visible around four schools and on streets in the town.

“People don’t want to commit crimes where there are police. And then this technology has really helped give the officers one more little eye that they didn’t have before,” Arata said.

Dallas, Fort Worth and other North Texas cities also use Flock cameras.

Arata said other Denton County cities are adding Flock cameras.

“Every day is a hard day because she doesn’t have her daughter, but hopefully, this verdict will help bring her at least some measure of peace that she can go forward knowing that her daughter’s life mattered,” said Jason Itkin, lead attorney for the mother whose daughter was killed.

In June 2019, 29-year-old Kiersten Smith was in her Old East Dallas apartment at the Elan City Lights when a summer storm sent a crane crashing into her building.

Smith, her family said, was in the process of planning a wedding and was sitting on a couch while her fiancé cooked a meal when the crane smashed through her roof, killing her.

Her parents, Michele Williams and James Kirkwood, filed a lawsuit alleging gross negligence on the part of the developer, Greystar, and Bigge Crane and Rigging, the company that leased the crane and operator to the developer.

The multiple attorneys representing Smith’s family, Michael Lyons of Lyons & Simmons, LLP, Jonathon Clark of Glasheen, Valles & Inderman, LLP, and Jason Itkin of Arnold & Itkin, argued from the beginning that the crane was not left in a position to handle predicted severe weather on that Sunday.

They said if the crane was allowed to “weathervane” meaning move with the direction of the wind, like other cranes in Dallas, it would have been able to take the brunt of the windy conditions.

Both Greystar and Bigge said the collapse was due to operator error, though each said the other was responsible for the operator and equipment.

Bigge argued that they loaned the crane and operator to Greystar and per their agreement, Greystar was responsible for supervising the equipment and operator.

After deliberating more than six hours on Wednesday, the jury agreed with Bigge’s argument, and they were not found negligent.

“It was not caused by anything that Bigge did, and again Bigge of course extends its total condolences to the family,” said Darrell Barger, lead attorney for the crane company after the verdict came down.

However, the jury found Greystar guilty of negligence. Attorneys for the company declined to comment after the verdict.

As part of the judgment, the jury awarded Smith’s mother $50 million for loss of companionship, $140 million for mental anguish, $50,012,006 for future mental anguish and another $100 million. The jury awarded Smith’s father $3 million for loss of companionship, $7 million for mental anguish, $4 million for future mental anguish and an additional $6 million.

Plus, there was a total of $500 million awarded to the estate of Kiersten Smith.

“It tells you that the jury understood the value of the relationships that Kiersten brought into this world. They understood that she was a really amazing, special person that made the people around her better, and I think the jury got to see how Kiersten’s life mattered and how much she’s missed. And so I think that’s what they did when they tried to figure the damages,” said Itkin.

Itkin explained the importance of one of the damaged figures which was a specific amount of $50,012,006.

“That $12,006 means a lot, that was Kiersten’s apartment number. And one of the things that was very important to Michele was that nobody sent her a card, nobody said they were sorry, they didn’t even know her name, but now they’ll at least know her apartment number,” said Itkin.

He said overall, the family hopes this trial serves as a reminder to companies in regard to following safety procedures.

“Michelle hopes and James hopes that something like this never happens again. There was so many different safety violations, that when you start peeling it back and you wonder, how does this happen at construction sites, especially where sites that are around where people live, where people play, where people eat, where people go to sleep at night? And so hopefully, companies will learn a lesson from this and say we need to make sure that we’re following the rules. We’re following the regulations; that it’s not just about profit. It’s not just about speed, but it’s also about doing things the right way,” said Itkin.

The case lasted nine days and closing arguments lasted several hours, but even though the civil trial is now over, Itkin said every day remains painful for his client who is without her daughter.

“It’s not over because for Michele, today’s a big day, but every day she’s going to be missing her daughter. There’s a lot of legal things that need to happen within the court system. And I’m sure there’ll be motions and all sorts of things, but for right now, for today, we just want to be thankful for what the jury has done and thankful that at least for today, that Kiersten’s life mattered and that we held Greystar accountable,” said Itkin.

Dallas Apr 25

Attorneys in Crane Collapse Civil Trial Deliver Closing Arguments, Jury Expected to Deliberate on Wednesday

Dallas Apr 20

Mother of Victim Killed in Dallas Crane Collapse Takes Stand in Negligence Trial

Dallas Apr 12

Negligence Lawsuit in Dallas Crane Collapse Underway This Week

“I’ve been very fortunate all my life,” Carbajal said. “I’ve had a lot of opportunities and I feel like I owe something back.”

Carbajal is one of 80 volunteers a day that keep the community market running. About 400 families a week rely on it to stretch their budgets.

“We call them our neighbors, not our clients because that is exactly who they are. They could be your neighbor,” Network of Community Ministries President and CEO Abbie Kauffman said. “During the pandemic, that definitely exposed the food insecurity in our area, and that has only continued to persist.”

The food pantry operates like a grocery store. On Wednesday morning, there was a waiting list to come in and shop.

“These are working poor,” Carbajal said. “Feedback from people that you’re working with and helping is incredible, and I think I get more back than I give.”

Network of Community Ministries serves a 46-square-mile area that includes Richardson, parts of Dallas, and parts of Garland.

This is National Volunteer Month. For information on how to volunteer at Network of Community Ministries, click here.

Nearly six months after Officer Lina Mino was shot in the face, her attorney said she continues to recover emotionally and physically.

“She’s fighting. She’s a fighter,” said attorney Frank Branson. “The bullet entered her eye, went into her brain and out near her ear so she’s had significant damage. She’s got a good attitude and she’s working at it but it’s an uphill battle.”

It was November when Mino and others from around Tarrant County gathered on a Saturday to train for an active shooter scenario. A fellow officer shot Mino during the exercise.

Shortly after authorities told reporters live ammunition was not supposed to be involved in the training.

Mino is now suing the company behind the exercise, Texas Police Trainers LLC and CEO Janice M. Washington.

The lawsuit alleges gross negligence and said the company failed to assure everyone was unarmed, allowed live ammunition and failed to perform safety checks.

Neither Texas Police Trainers nor Washington have responded to the lawsuit or responded to NBC 5’s request for comment.

“It just should have never have happened. It’s inexcusable to have live ammunition at a police training system,” Branson said. “Think of all the police officers who rely on this. They go to it to improve their ability to protect us.”

Branson said they are filing the lawsuit to prevent something like this from happening in the future and to compensate Mino for her injuries.

LINA MINO V. TEXAS POLICE TRAINERS

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It happened at about 11:15 a.m. along Garland Road near Winsted Drive, near the White Rock Lake Spillway in Dallas.

Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said the fire engine was responding to a fire call and had its lights and sirens on when its driver lost control and hydroplaned. The fire truck crashed into another car before coming to a stop in the grass off the street.

The person in the car that was hit was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Evans said.

No firefighters were hurt.

The fire engine was seen being towed away later Wednesday afternoon. Evans said there was significant damage to the vehicle.

According to investigators with the Dallas Police Department, the teen was in an SUV with three others driving along Santa Anna Avenue toward Shiloh Road when their vehicle bumped side mirrors with an oncoming vehicle.

The driver of the second vehicle, police said, turned around and drove up to the SUV and began shooting. One of the three occupants, a teenager, was hit at least once. Three others in the vehicle were not injured.

The driver of the SUV left the area and drove with the injured teen to the 4600 block of East RL Thornton Freeway, about seven miles away. That’s where police said the occupants of the SUV flagged down first responders with Dallas Fire-Rescue at about 9:20 p.m. DFR notified police of the shooting and took the injured teenager to a nearby hospital where he later died.

The teen was identified by the Dallas County Medical Examiner as 16-year-old Emanuell Alexander.

Dallas Police have not announced any arrests or identified the shooter. Additionally, police have not released a description of the shooter or his vehicle, other than that it looked like a beige or tan SUV or truck.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Joshua Romero at Joshua.Romero@dallaspolice.gov or call the Dallas Police Department at 214-671-4226.

Travelers in and out of North Texas airports were forced to wait for hours due to a ground stop at both Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field late in the morning. The ground stop was lifted around 2:30 p.m., but it took several more hours for the delays to be overcome.

NBC 5’s Team of Weather Experts warned that scattered strong to severe widespread thunderstorms would be possible across North Texas on Wednesday. The Storm Prediction Center has the DFW area included in a level 3 (enhanced) threat for severe weather on Wednesday. Large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes will be concerns. See the latest forecast and live radar here.

Anyone traveling Wednesday is encouraged to check the flight status for any delays or cancellations before going to the airport.

weather quiz Apr 25

Weather Quiz: Weather Balloon

weather quiz Apr 24

Weather Quiz: Pileus Cloud

Deputies responded to shots fired just after midnight at a private residence in Jasper County where the party was held and found nine victims with gunshot wounds, according to a statement by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities discovered the additional two victims after they sought treatment the next day, Jasper County Sheriff Mitchel Newman said at a news conference.

According to Jasper County officials, the injuries are expected to be non-life threatening.

About 250 people are estimated to have been present at the time of the shooting, according to a statement from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.

Eight victims were taken in personal vehicles to Jasper Memorial Hospital in Jasper, Texas, and “at least one” of those were transferred to CHRISTUS Southeast Texas-St. Elizabeth Hospital in nearby Beaumont, Texas, for further treatment, Jasper County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Karli Cherry said. One person did not go to the hospital, she said.

Eight of the victims have been released from hospital care, Jasper County victim assistance coordinator Laronnia Gray said at a news conference on Tuesday.

A second shooting within the city limits of Jasper, Texas, occurred shortly after the first, the statement said. There were no injuries in the second shooting, but a connection between the two incidents is being investigated due to a “common vehicle at both locations,” the statement said.

According to officials, four “people of interest” have been identified.

“We expect to be seeing an arrest warrant and warrants soon,” Jasper County District Attorney Anne Pickle said on Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Today, she’s back at school with friends and her beloved cheer team. But she won’t stop there. Brooke Walker hopes to hit the field again soon.

The gym is where Walker says she belongs. On the mat with her team is where she’s happy, and where she shines. Cheering has been part of her life for the past seven years – not just as a hobby, but rather somewhat of a lifestyle. But several weeks of pain and stiffness in her leg led to an emergency visit.

“I woke my parents up at like two in the morning and was like this is so bad, you need to get me somewhere,” Walker said.

It was a blood clot. A major blow came soon after that.

“My parents came in and I looked at my mom and I was like, ‘I’m going to lose my leg, aren’t I?’ And she was like ‘yeah, probably,’” she said.

Walker’s leg was amputated from the middle of her calf down. It was difficult for the entire family to process.

Her parents say they’re in awe of her strength. It’s no surprise the 17-year-old junior can still be found at practice with her squad at Rockwall-Heath High School.

“Your true character comes out when you go through something like this. And she has amazed everybody that’s come in contact with her,” said her mother, Kerri Walker.

The hope is that she will tumble again. That could become a reality soon with a prosthetic leg in the works. Her team, coaches and the surrounding community have been pillars throughout the journey. They’re hoping for continued support through a GoFundMe page.

“Medical care only goes so far when it comes to prosthetics, and she’s going to need a specialty leg that has some specialty skills,” said Kerri Walker.

Where some might see obstacles, Brooke sees opportunity. Already she’s picturing herself exactly where she’s always wanted to be. Cheering with her team.

“I love it. I can’t wait to do it again,” she said. “I can’t wait to be out in front of a crowd. I love performing.”

Walker’s family says they expect to start testing a prosthetic leg within the next couple of weeks.

ONLINE: Visit the GoFundMe page for Walker.

“It’s becoming a predictable pattern,” said a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous for safety.

The man, living in the Villages of Stonelake, said the crime has targeted older South Asian women, including his mother-in-law.

He said it happened last August, while his in-laws were visiting from India.

“They were walking along this particular path and a car was already patrolling. I think they were just seeing who the ideal target would be,” he said.

He said a black Chevy Traverse, caught on neighbors’ Ring cameras, stopped the elderly couple at the intersection of Medallion Lane and Starry Night Lane.

The male driver distracted his father-in-law by asking for directions to the hospital for a pregnant wife.

“He literally held my father-in-law’s head into the car,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said the woman hopped out and embraced his mother-in-law.

“She said, ‘You look like my mother,’ and was shouting all kinds of affections and started putting all kinds of fake jewelry on her. My mother-in-law didn’t suspect anything, not in this neighborhood anyway,” he said.

It wasn’t until minutes after the couple pulled off that his mother-in-law realized that during the encounter, the woman snatched her own gold necklace, a precious wedding gift.

Since the beginning of March, Frisco Police report there have been nine similar crimes reported.

They’re encouraging people to keep their eyes open, to walk in groups and to keep valuables, like jewelry, out of site.

Suspicious activity can be reported to the Frisco Police Department at 972-292-6010. Tips can also be submitted anonymously by texting FRISCOPD and the tip to 847411 (tip411) or by downloading the Frisco PD app.

The Tarrant County election commission voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the resignation. Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare said the next step of the process includes posting the job on the county website and advertising the job on various elections administration groups.

“The last time the county hired an elections administrator, there were not a lot of resumes that were sent in. Unfortunately, there were not a lot of qualified people,” O’Hare said.

In the resignation letter, which was made public last Monday, Garcia said differences with newly elected Judge O’Hare influenced his decision.

“Judge O’Hare, my formula to ‘a quality transparent election’ stands on respect and zero politics; compromising on these values is not an option for me. You made it clear in our last meeting that your formula is different, thus my decision to leave,” the letter read in part.

Speaking with reporters Tuesday, O’Hare was asked to clarify what differences there were in “formulas.”

O’Hare made two points.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for an elections administrator to go out into a parking lot, take pictures of someone’s vehicle, send it to members of the press. I think that’s inappropriate,” he said.

He also referenced safety concerns that were brought forth by an election judge during early voting in the last general election.

“Nothing was done to help this person who feared for her safety and couldn’t control of the room,” he said. “The Republican party called Mr. Garcia and said, ‘hi, we got this going on. We need you to do something.’ The answer was, ‘what do you want me to do about it?’ That’s not OK. That’s not acceptable.”

Garcia did not return our request for comment Tuesday.

At the meeting, public comment was open for anyone who wished to speak on the resignation. Some commended Garcia’s work.

“He gave us faith in the process. He gave us encouragement. He was superb. It just breaks my heart that he felt he had to resign because he was going to be pressured to do things that were not up to his standard ethically,” one speaker said. “I frankly don’t think it’s going to be easy to recruit someone of his stature and standing once you run off someone who was really good.”

Another person said he was content with Garcia’s resignation, though he wanted to see him stay through November.

“Moving forward, what I’d like to our elections administrator is one that will follow the secretary of state’s laws, local laws, you know, our election laws to the T. No wavering from it,” he said.

O’Hare also weighed in on what he wants to see in the next election administrator.

“It’s got to be somebody who is a good listener. It’s got to be somebody that understands their role. Their role is to administer fair, secure, and honest elections,” he said. “This needs to be someone with some elections experience, with some experience with technology. We want someone who works well with others.”

He added, he did not want to do anything that would harm Garcia’s future employment prospects.

“At the end of the day, he chose to leave on his own. I didn’t threaten to fire him. I didn’t ask him to resign. I didn’t tell him I was going to bring him up before the election commission,” he said.

Garcia’s official last day is June 23.

Tarrant County Apr 18

Tarrant County Leaders Discuss Election Administrator Resignation, Property Tax Relief

Tarrant County Apr 17

Tarrant County Elections Chief Resigns, Says Differences With County Judge Influenced Decision

A jury will deliberate and decide if a real estate developer and crane company were negligent.

It’s been nearly three weeks since the civil trial began.

It’s centered around Kiersten Smith, 29, who died on June 9, 2019, when a construction crane fell on her Old East Dallas apartment called Elan City Lights.

Smith, who was in the process of planning a wedding, was sitting on a couch while her fiancé cooked a meal when the tragedy happened.

Her parents, Michele Williams and James Kirkwood, are suing Greystar, the company that owned the apartment complex and the new one that was under construction, The Gabriella. The lawsuit also names Bigge Crane and Rigging, the company that leased the crane and operator to Greystar.

During closing arguments Tuesday, attorney Jason Itkin, who represents Williams, spoke to the jury for more than two hours, hammering his points regarding facts laid out in the case and the emotional toll it’s taken on the family.

“What you decided is important for Kiersten’s memory,” Itkin told the jury as he explained how the outcome of the civil trial could impact future safety measures for construction companies.

The lawsuit alleges gross negligence on the part of the crane company, Bigge Crane and Rigging, and Greystar, the company that rented the crane to build new apartments next door to the Elan City Lights.

One of the points Itkan focused on was an expired inspection on the crane that could have identified loose bolts, rusty bolts other potential issues. Through crane operational documents, Itkin and his team showed the court that the crane had the ability to be prepared for bad weather and high winds and that the companies did not follow weather protocol for the crane prior to the collapse.

Stating if it was “weathervaned,” the crane would have moved with the wind versus in the same spot and taking on the force of the 70-mile-per-hour winds.

The crane operator, Robert Hilty, told the courtroom last week when he took the stand that he did take the steps to weathervane the crane before leaving the day before.

All the parties involved have pointed the finger at the crane operator suggesting otherwise.

Greystar has argued it was an error of the operator for the crane to fall and that he was an employee of Bigge Crane and Rigging.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the crane company argue the operator was Greystar’s responsibility since they leased the equipment and operator.

During his closing arguments, Itkan also added that a “Greystar” sign on top of the crane was a contributing factor to its collapse.

They’re seeking more than $500 million in compensatory damages for Smith’s parents. They’re also seeking $1,206 in punitive damages, which was Smith’s apartment number.

Tuesday evening, Greystar and Bigge attorneys delivered their closing arguments after 5 p.m., in which the judge said the jury would be willing to work late.

The entire morning was spent on wording for the jury instructions, which is a list of questions for them to answer, including if they find the parties involved negligent and monetary compensation.

Dallas Apr 20

Mother of Victim Killed in Dallas Crane Collapse Takes Stand in Negligence Trial

Dallas Apr 12

Negligence Lawsuit in Dallas Crane Collapse Underway This Week

Inside the Storm May 28, 2021

Crane Catastrophe: Inside The Storm

“These are my brothers,” Dills said hugging his schoolmates from Camden Military Academy in South Carolina. “I’m the only one that really looks the same as I did back when I was 18!”

Dills, Arnie Levine, Truette Dobson, Mike Thompson and Paul Johnson met at Camden Military Academy and have been friends for more than 50 years.

“You’re 17 years old and now your turn around, you’re 70,” Thompson said.

The group flew to North Texas from North and South Carolina to surprise Dills because he missed a school reunion. Dills, who uses a wheelchair, didn’t think he’d be able to travel to South Carolina.

“I got into a funk, I guess you’d say, when I got sick,” Dills explained. “Started getting down on yourself. You start having thoughts you shouldn’t have about your existence.”

“I could just tell he missed us,” Levine said. “I said I’m going to see Doug, anybody wanna go? And it was like, immediate, immediate, immediate. There was no hesitation. They said, yeah!”

“When Arnie called and said Doug needs us,” Truette Dobson said holding back tears. “You drop everything.”

“Everything you could hope for is right here,” Johnson said looking at his friends.

They reminisced over a yearbook, newspaper clippings, and old photos.

“There’s Doug right there,” Levine said pointing to a black-and-white, younger version of Dills. “We pick up right where we left off that day in 1970.”

“There’s a bond that’s there because you’re going through all the same crap. You’re also going through all the good stuff,” Dills said. “Funny how the stuff comes back to you in your memory bank.”

Small reunions like theirs don’t typically make news, but the lessons we can learn from them are worth sharing.

“They brought me from here, to here,” Dills said lowering his hand from the floor to above his head. “Because they took the time to show me they love me.”

The keynote speaker was Dr. Leigh Wall, who was the superintendent of the Sante Fe ISD when there was a mass shooting at Sante Fe High School where eight students and two teachers were killed.

“The idea of a mass shooting at all is difficult, but to involve children in senseless acts is something that is very difficult for people to accept, of course, and then understand. So, that is the hope is that we can work together to learn and hopefully prevent these in the future, and at the very least do a better job of responding, and be prepared to do that,” said Wall.

Wall has since retired and now has a new focus.

“What I hope my job now is, is to work with schools, school leaders, communities and organizations that support schools and school safety, to help make the world a better place,” added Wall.

Superintendents, school-based law enforcement, administrators and counselors all heard from school safety experts.

“I hope they have this takeaway. This one takeaway. Safety is everyone’s responsibility,” said La’Evening Woodard, Region 10 Education Service Center safety and security coordinator.

Retired Dallas ISD Chief of Police Craig Miller was also at the event.

“We have to be able to work hand in hand, and I think that is what events like this are all about, is being able to get law enforcement and school administration on the same page. In the middle of a crisis is not the time to start planning,” said Miller.

Educators also received updates about bills in the Texas legislature, dealing with school safety. Both the House and Senate have passed a number of bills to strengthen it. The Senate’s bill has a new office of safety and security, which will make standards for school safety plans, and yearly audits of each school. 

The House bill includes an armed security officer at every campus. Now they must come to an agreement before the session ends.

“Well, I know I need to get some comps, and I need to take some pictures, you know, do my homework,” Fernandez said.

Appraisers commonly refer to sale comparables as “comps”. They are based on local sales and listings of homes.

Fernandez said she recently purchased a home in Dallas County and plans to protest her appraisal.

“I think it went up over $100,000,” Fernandez said.

Appraisals reflect the local real estate market, and according to the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts or TAAD, the buyers’ market remains aggressive.

“When the market is aggressive and increasing, the appraisal districts have to go along and increase those values, following the local market trends that we see in each of our respective counties,” Brent South said. South serves as TAAD’s legislative committee chair and the chief appraiser for Hunt County Appraisal District.

“There’s going to be a lot of times when we don’t have enough data to get it 100% right, 100% of the time,” South said. “So please, if you disagree, take a look. Pay attention to those appraisal notices and if you disagree with the value, come talk to us.”

According to Smith, the more information provided when protesting, the better.

“Bring in repair estimates, photos, anything and everything that helps our appraisers,” South said. “We’re not going inside your home. So, we don’t always know the condition of your home, if there are things that need to be updated or upgraded, or if there’s any structural damage to the home, we don’t have that information.”

Yet, many owners still wonder if they stand a chance to win their case.

“It’s frustrating because I know they still have the last word,” Fernandez said. “They can still say no.”

Property owners have 30 days from when the notice was mailed out to file a protest.

“If you missed that 30-day time period, there’s very little, if anything, that we can do for you at the appraisal district,” South said.

Environmentalist and retired Container Store executive Garrett Boone will serve in the role of making new parks a reality from the list of 350 parcels of publicly owned land.

“I think I have the experience to achieve meaningful results, but I’m also reminded of the admonition of Kermit the Frog, that being green is not easy,” Boone said.

Johnson named Boone for the task at an event beside a city-owned parcel along Walnut Creek in the Walnut Creek Estates neighborhood of Far Northeast Dallas. The neighborhood has no parks.

Neighbor Bryan Wallace first pointed the site out to the mayor as a potential park in a message last year when Wallace heard that Johnson asked the city manager to make the list of publicly owned locations.

“I know personally I would use it almost every day,” Wallace said.

Johnson said more than a quarter of Dallas residents do not live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

“Creating new green spaces out of land the city already owns can improve the lives of countless children and families across Dallas and I’m excited about the launch off this effort today,” Johnson said. “Dallas City limits are Garrett’s only boundaries. All 386 square miles of this city are fair game.”

Walnut Creek Estates is an established neighborhood with older homes and many residents who have lived there for years.

Several of them watched the mayor’s event and voiced worries about the park plan afterward.

“There could be benefits. There could be some very, very difficult issues that come out of it,” resident Ed Charles said.

He and his wife, Doris, said they have lived in the neighborhood for 40 years.

“I am concerned about it because of the traffic. It’s a very quiet neighborhood. This part of the neighborhood is very quiet and I am very concerned that it wouldn’t be so,” Doris Charles said.

She recalled how neighborhood kids once put a basketball goal in the cul-de-sac where the mayor’s event was held Tuesday.

“It drew people that were not very considerate of the neighborhood, so I’m afraid that would happen also,” she said.

Dallas Parks Director John Jenkins said the neighbors should not worry.

“If the City of Dallas takes on this as a park, which we envision that we will, we will work with the community and this park will be well maintained and the community will be proud of it,” Jenkins said.

The guy who invited the mayor to pay attention to the site said he is excited about the plan and believes his neighbors will be, too.

“Once they see a plan, I’m sure we could convince them. This isn’t a park for everybody. This is a park for our neighborhood,” Wallace said.

Boone said Dallas has 700 miles of creeks like the one adjacent to Walnut Creek Estates.

“Each one of those creeks represents a very special habitat and if those creeks are paid attention to, you get neighborhoods to adopt those creeks, clean them up through invasive species management, it’s a huge habitat that probably rivals the Trinity River corridor, so I look forward to doing that,” Boone said.

The new Dallas Greening Czar said he will also focus on reducing litter in Dallas and work with nonprofit groups including the Trust for Public Land.

Boone said neighborhood youth may be recruited to help maintain the new neighborhood parks to help boost community pride.

Gilberto’s Taco Shop on Arlington’s Park Row is still not open. But already, the restaurant is creating buzz.

Owner Jose Ruiz said he always knew he wanted something iconic on the outside as he prepared to open his second location, so he commissioned DFW artist Juan Velazquez to paint a mural.

Earlier this year Velazquez painted the infamous right hook delivered by Texas Ranger Rougned Odor to Toronto Blue Jay Jose Bautista during a May 2016 game.

“This represents Arlington,” Ruiz said. “The mural represents Arlington. I love it.”

Yet, a different, unsuspecting blow came Monday. The restaurant owner learned through the permitting process the city of Arlington may have an issue with the mural.

“We can’t take down the mural,” Ruiz said. “How are we going to take something so nice down?”

Muralist Juan Velazquez posted about the issue on social media and it drew a quick reaction.

NBC 5 reached out to the City of Arlington and was told wall murals are not currently allowed in that part of the city, but the city had no immediate plans to take action and would seek feedback from the city council.

Response from City of Arlington spokesperson:

“The City of Arlington’s Planning and Development Services Department is working with the owner of Gilberto’s Taco Shop to process the restaurant’s request for sign permits ahead of its opening.

The City has notified the owner that the painted wall mural on the side of the restaurant at 611 W. Park Row Drive is not allowed under the Unified Development Code. Painted wall murals are currently only allowed Downtown and in the Entertainment District. Gilberto’s is located just outside of Downtown.

The City has no immediate plans to take action regarding the mural at Gilberto’s Taco Shop and will seek feedback from the Arlington City Council on whether it would like to make changes to the mural policy.“

Ruiz hopes the situation can be resolved without a fight.

“This is for the culture, you know,” Ruiz said. “This is something different. This is all I wanted to do, have something different in the city of Arlington.”

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According to the Department of Justice, 30-year-old Michael Fagan was charged on April 19 with assaulting or impeding a federal officer after an ATF agent said the man fired on him at least twice while stopped at a red light in East Dallas.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by NBC 5, federal investigators said the agent was stopped at a red light near the Dallas Arboretum at about 8 p.m. on April 6 when he saw a man in an SUV using the right turn lane to pass traffic stopped at the light and proceed through an intersection.

The agent reported seeing the driver run a second red light before he lost sight of him. At the intersection of Garland Road and Gaston Avenue, the agent caught up to the SUV driver and said he noticed the man appeared to be yelling and flailing his arms inside his vehicle.

The document said when the agent rolled down his window to ask the driver if he was OK the man responded by opening his door and yelling incoherently at him. The agent ordered the man to get back into his vehicle. After the man returned to his vehicle, the agent said he saw the man lean over the passenger seat before turning back toward him while holding a pistol.

The agent yelled “no,” or “don’t,” officials said, and he “ducked down below the dashboard” as he heard two shots. Federal investigators said the agent pulled out his weapon and fired three shots, striking the man at least once.

The man drove off and the agent followed long enough to get a license plate and description of the vehicle for police before stopping to make sure he’d not been injured in the gunfire. Fagan, investigators said, soon met up with his girlfriend who later called 911 to report her boyfriend had been shot in the chest and in the leg and that she was taking him to the hospital.

In separate interviews, Fagan told both police at the hospital and federal investigators that he’d been drinking at a bar prior to the shooting and claimed he’d exchanged words with the driver of a Chevrolet Malibu who had been tailgating him and had fired at him at least once. In the interviews, Fagan told police at the hospital he had a gun but wasn’t able to get to it in time while later telling federal investigators he did grab his gun but didn’t fire more than one round in response. The DOJ, in their statement Tuesday, said surveillance footage from the area didn’t show any vehicles that looked like the one Fagan described as following him.

Neither the officers who searched Fagan’s vehicle at the hospital nor federal investigators who searched his vehicle reported finding a weapon.

Investigators said they also recovered five casings from the area, three of which were “consistent with the duty ammunition carried by the ATF agent and two consistent with another firearm.”

“Mr. Fagan’s behavior two weeks ago was allegedly violent and hostile; two adjectives that don’t go well with firearm possession,” said Jeffrey C. Boshek II, ATF Dallas Field Division Special Agent in Charge. “Luckily for the citizens of Dallas, that ATF Special Agent was able to put a stop to Mr. Fagan’s alleged acts of violence.”

It’s not clear if Fagan has obtained an attorney or if he’s posted a bond. If convicted, Fagan faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

On Tuesday Everman Chief of Police CW Spencer released several new details in the investigation into the search for Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez, a 6-year-old boy who appeared malnourished and unhealthy the last time extended family members said they saw him alive in October 2022.

Following a tip, Everman Police began looking into Noel’s welfare in March and within days police said his mother and stepfather had left the country.

During a news conference Tuesday, Spencer said investigators have now added a felony charge of theft for the missing boy’s stepfather, Arshdeep Singh. According to Spencer, Arshdeep worked delivering products to convenience stores and in the hours before leaving the country last month he allegedly forged documents to hide the theft of $10,000 in cash from his employer. Spencer said investigators looking into a large deposit alerted the company to the altered document and missing money.

Police confirmed the boy’s family used a credit card to buy one-way airline tickets to India for Arshdeep and the boy’s mother, Cindy Singh, and her six children, the day before they left the country.

Spencer also shared an updated timeline in the case, narrowing down exactly when they believe Noel may have disappeared.

“So our timeline has been narrowed down to between about a week after the twins came home and then Nov. 1 when it appears Cindy began to plan an escape from the country.”

Lastly, Spencer said several items were collected during Saturday’s search of roughly 200 acres of land, though more detail about what was found has not yet been made public.

On Tuesday, Spencer ran down a list of facts he said investigators have uncovered so far in their investigation. Those are listed below:

• Noel was never enrolled in school, though he had been tested and qualified for early entry and therapy.
• The boy’s family said Noel was abused and neglected regularly, and that food and water were withheld because Cindy didn’t like his dirty diapers.
• The boy’s family said Noel was struck in the face with keys for drinking water.
• Cindy referred to Noel as evil, possessed, or having a demon in him.
• Noel began missing doctor appointments after July 2022.
• Cindy asked to borrow a friend’s child to attend a doctor’s appointment so she could retain benefits.
• Noel was described as unhealthy and malnourished the last time he was seen.
• Cindy told different stories about his whereabouts, including that she sold him to a lady in a grocery parking lot.
• His biological father and aunt in Mexico have never met him.
• No data has been found that shows the family made trips to the Texas-Mexico border or that he had been sold.
• Cindy told her family to lie to the police about seeing Noel recently.
• The family lived in squalor but chose to spend the majority of a tax return on a concrete patio for a home they don’t own.
• The contractor who poured the porch said Cindy was in a hurry and was indecisive and that she asked for it to be thicker in a certain area.
• Noel’s stepfather Arshdeep disposed of a single indoor/outdoor carpet in a dumpster the night before they left the country but left behind other trash in their rented home.
• Multiple cadaver dogs “alerted” to the indoor/outdoor carpet recovered by investigators as well as the dirt underneath the new patio, indicating the one-time presence of human remains. Police said there was no physical material found large enough to test.
• Arshdeep stole $10,000 from his employer hours before the family left for India and altered a document to hide the missing money.
• Electronic visas were obtained one day after a welfare check.
• The family bought one-way tickets to India and left the country shortly after police began to question the whereabouts of Noel.

Meanwhile, officials have not provided any new information in the search for the boy’s mother and stepfather. Spencer said they are reliant upon federal partners to work with international partners to locate and extradite Cindy and Arshdeep Singh.

In addition to the new felony charge filed for Arshdeep, the couple is also charged with felony child abandonment and endangerment in the missing boy’s case.

NOEL RODRIGUEZ-ALVAREZ

Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez Apr 22

No New Breaks Announced After Police Search 200 Acres for Missing Everman Boy

Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez Apr 21

Ground Search for Missing Everman Boy Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez Resumes Saturday

Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez Apr 11

‘It Breaks My Heart,' Everman Boy's Foster Mom Speaks Out, Wants Justice

The first concert will start at 8:15 p.m. and fireworks will follow.

These outdoor, family friendly concerts will be hosted at several locations around the area are free to attend.

• Monday, May 29 at Flag Pole Hill Flag Pole Hill at 8:15 p.m.
• June 1 at Exall Park near downtown Dallas at 8:15 p.m.
• June 6 at Campbell Green Park in Far North Dallas at 8:15 p.m.
• June 8 at Kidd Springs Park in Oak Cliff at 8:15 p.m.
• June 13 at Paul Quinn College at 8:15 p.m. (Conducted by Maurice Cohn)

The 2023 Dallas Symphony Orchestra Parks Concerts are sponsored by Methodist Dallas Medical Center and are supported in part by the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.  

Rashone Jacob moved to North Texas recently for a change; a new beginning for her family.

“We literally just moved down here, we’re only eight months in,” said Jacob. “Moved from Pontiac, Michigan.”

Things were going well. Jacob and her children were getting settled. Then she received a phone call from a family member on the morning of March 20.

“She said my son has been shot,” she said. “All could do was scream, cry.”

Arlington police say 16-year-old Ja’Shawn Poirier was sitting on the steps at Lamar High School in Arlington before the start of class. Another student walked up, pulled out a shotgun and started shooting.

The 15-year-old suspect was detained and taken into custody. Poirier was rushed to the hospital where his mother waited until a surgeon came out with the devastating news that her son had died.

“Before she could even finish the sentence I just broke down,” Jacob said.

Jacob said the past month has been a daze. She stands in Ja’Shawn’s bedroom and still can’t believe he’s gone.

“[I] Buried my son, seen him in the dirt, closed his casket, go into his room, I still can’t wrap my mind around it,” she said.

Now that her son has been laid to rest, she wants justice. Police have not shared a motive for the shooting, but Jacob said, concerning her son, there isn’t one.

“He was murdered at Lamar High School,” she said. “My son wasn’t targeted. It wasn’t over a girl or anything. It was just a random shooting.”

She says Ja’Shawn had a love for sports and video games. This Friday will mark what would have been his 17^th birthday. Jacob said this loss is the worst pain she’s ever felt.

In her living room, Jacob clutched pictures of Poirier as a baby. She had a message for him.

“I am so so so sorry that this happened to you,” she said. “I still got your back and I’m going to fight to the end until justice is served.”

The juvenile suspect has not been named due to his age. He appeared at a detention hearing Friday where a judge decided he should remain in custody.

If convicted of capital murder, a juvenile can be sentenced to a maximum of 40 years in prison.

A juvenile girl who was near Poirier at the time of the shooting was grazed by the shot or flying debris. She was treated and released from the hospital that day.

Arlington Mar 21

Boy Fatally Shot Outside Arlington Lamar HS Identified by Family, Medical Examiner

Arlington Mar 22

Arlington Lamar Students Return to Campus After Fatal Shooting

Arlington Mar 21

Boy, 15, Accused of Using Long Gun in Deadly Arlington Lamar HS Shooting

Denton Police on Monday said Darontay Dashield, 31, is in custody in the shooting death of Johnson, who was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds inside his Denton apartment on Jan. 11.

Denton Police said they arrived to find the door of the apartment unit slightly open and someone inside calling for help.

“They approached that door and they called out to see if there were any potential occupants inside and they did hear a response from somebody asking for help,” Denton Police Officer Allison Beckwith told NBC 5 in January.

Johnson managed to speak to first responders before he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead later that night. Johnson worked in food services at the University of North Texas.

Police said witnesses reported seeing a man running through the apartment complex, located along the 1000 block of Eagle Drive, immediately after the shooting.

In the time since, witness interviews, physical evidence and digital evidence led detectives to Dashield, who also lives in Denton, police said. Detectives learned Dashield knew Johnson and had previously stayed in his apartment.

Dashield was arrested Monday afternoon on the 500 block of Robertson Street. He was held in the Denton Jail with bail not yet set. It’s not known if he is represented by an attorney.

Denton Feb 17

Sister of Murdered Denton Man Pleads for Answers

Denton police Jan 12

Unsolved Murder Near UNT Campus Leaves Students on Edge