Dallas home target of apparently random shooting

[seamusTX]

Dallas, Friday, June 26 -- Around 10:30 p.m., a Dallas family was apparently minding their business when someone standing outside the house fired at least nine shots through the walls, windows, and door. One resident was fatally shot. The shooting took place at Canary Drive and Bardwell Avenue in east Oak Cliff.

No motive is known, and police have identified no suspects.

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How do you defend against a lunatic or gang member who got the wrong address and shoots from outside with no warning? In some areas, you can have a wide buffer zone, dogs, and proximity alarms. In an older down, most houses have walls only a few feet from the right of way.

BTW, yesterday was a quiet day in the United States. Normally there are about 1,000 [sic] shootings a day nationwide, including suicides, assaults between family members and gang members, robberies, etc. There were very few yesterday.

- Jim

[bryang]

People that will do this and these gang drive-by shootings are the lowest cowards there are. About all you could do is hit the floor, pray and wait until it over.

Yesterday...? Maybe everyone was watching tv...I won't mention why...

-geo

[seamusTX]

You can hit the floor when you hear the first shot, but you won't hear it if the bullet hits you. That's apparently what happened in this case.

- Jim

[AEA]

Gran Torino.......

Set out a few remote activated claymores!

(Just kidding again there Jim!)
But ya gotta admit it would be effective!

[bryang]

I know, you don't stand a chance when some punk coward stands out in the front yard shooting your house full of holes.

There was a sad case a while back in Abilene, where a gang shot up a house and there was a young girl laying at the foot of her mothers bed and was shot and killed. This drive-by was what led to a new law that was just passed.


Perry signs De La Paz Act into law

Drive-by shooters to face more jail time

ANGELIA JOINER / Special to the Reporter-News
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

ABILENE, TX — Drive-by shooters take heed. Penalties for those who recklessly and haphazardly discharge firearms just got harsher.

On Monday, Gov. Rick Perry signed into law HB 176, known as the Janie Lynn De La Paz Act. The bill, written by state Rep. Susan King, is aimed at seeing jail time for anyone who knowingly discharges a weapon at or in the direction of a habitation, vehicle or building. The new law becomes effective Sept. 1.

The law is named for a 4-year-old girl shot and killed by drive-by shooters in 2007 while sleeping in her mom’s bed in the 800 block of Mulberry Street in Abilene.

Texas law did not differentiate drive-by shootings as a particular offense. Now, the state sees drive-by shootings as crimes, increasing the maximum penalty from 20 years to up to 99 years in jail.

Patrick Martinez, Janie’s uncle, said, “We’re very happy not only because it passed in Janie’s name, but the law needed to be passed a long time ago.” Martinez said the family is planning a community hamburger and hot dog supper to celebrate the event.

Sgt. Keith Shackleford, Abilene Police Department public information officer, said he had not seen the final draft, but members of the department helped craft the bill.

“We’re really excited,” Shackleford said. “We’re going to hold the people that do those kinds of crimes responsible and accountable for it.”

Shackleford said that the goal is to enhance the penalties but that he will not receive a legal update until around late July, so he did not know the particulars of the new law. “At that point, we will look and see what we need to do.”

-geo

[seamusTX]

It looks like they made drive-by shooting a first-degree felony. That's fine, but people found guilty of multiple violent felonies keep showing up on the street and in the news after only a few months or years in jail.

The sentences have to be carried out to do any good.

- Jim

[WildBill]

It looks like they made drive-by shooting a first-degree felony. That's fine, but people found guilty of multiple violent felonies keep showing up on the street and in the news after only a few months or years in jail. The sentences have to be carried out to do any good. - Jim

That is why I am against laws for drive-by shootings, so-called "hate crimes" and such. They are merely pandering to the public.

[ninemm]

This location is a good five miles from Oak Cliff but demonstrates the ignorance of local reporters who mistakenly believe Oak Cliff is everything south of the Trinity river in Dallas. This location is actually in the Fruitdale area of Dallas. I realize it has little relevance to the topic/story - just a sore spot with me.

[seamusTX]

Do you know what kind of neighborhood it is?

This kind of thing can happen anywhere, but it is more freqent in neighborhoods where there is a lot of drug gang activity.

- Jim

[ninemm]

From a home value viewpoint, home values on Canary and Bardwell range from $15,000 to $28,000 with an average around $24,000. Home values in the true Oak Cliff area range from $180,000 to $3,000,000 with an average around $380,000. The Fruitdale area was, for a long time, predominantly a black area but is now a black/Hispanic mix with a very serious gang problem.

[seamusTX]

Thanks for the info. That confirms my suspicion.

I didn't know you could buy a house for $15,000 anywhere in the U.S., unless it was foreclosed and trashed.

- Jim

[ninemm]

Those values were from appraisal district data. You probably couldn't actually buy them for that.

Edit. My bad. The $13,000 and $15,000 properties were vacant lots. The lowest value on a property with "improvements" is about $22,000.

[glocklvr]

In my old neighborhood I had my house shot up twice within 48 hrs (no body got hurt thankfully) both times it was over before I had time to respond. The scary part is that 1 of the rounds from the 1st 1 hit next to the front door where I would often stand to smoke and the 2nd time I had been out less than 30 seconds earlier. The rounds were intended for my now former neighbors. Since then I have moved to what I think is a much safer neighborhood and keep a semi-auto 12 gage with 00 buck in it just in case it happens again so that maybe I will have a chance to take the fun out of that game if it happens to me again and I NEVER unlock any door on my house not even to check the mail unless my gun is on me. The sad part about these shootings is that inocent people often are the ones that get hurt and it is very difficult to respond effectiveely before it is over.

[Beiruty]

tough to respond? ID the gangbangers, track them down and call the undertaker. just kidding call 911.

[USA1]

before i move to my current house, i lived in houston all my life..so im conditioned to drop to the floor/ground
if anything goes pop..

recently at a wedding, this huge balloon was suspended from the ceiling full of confetti .
when it was remotely popped to release the contents , i almost hit the floor

looking around the room , i expected to see folks drawing their weapons in self defense ....no one did