One person was killed around 12:30 a.m. Sunday when someone opened fire at a large party in an empty lot in north Fort Worth, according to Fort Worth police.
Officers responded to a call about the shooting in the 3500 block of Northwest 27th Street to find one male victim with a gunshot wound to the torso, according to police. Investigators learned that there was a large party at the location and the shooting happened after an argument broke out between the victim and the shooter. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he died.
No suspect was in custody Sunday.
By afternoon, the empty lot was strewn with liquor and beer bottles, cigarette butts and empty Camel, Marlboro and Pall Mall packs, food and packages from Jack in the Box and Panda Express and a lone red folding lawn chair in the middle, seemingly untouched in the chaos that ended the gathering. A garage in the back left of the field is in such condition that it’s not clear if it’s in use and a shed and derelict chicken coop in the back obviously haven’t seen care in years.
A large blue tarp hangs behind the majority of the fence, blocking views from the street.
Neighbors said they didn’t hear the gunshots but did hear the music. Juan Moreno, 18, lives just across the street from the lot. He said he didn’t know anything was wrong until he heard the music stop. He stepped outside the house to see what he thinks was at least more than 100 teens fleeing the area, jumping over the fence and getting into cars.
The lot, which spans the length of about three of the houses in the neighborhood, was dark. Lights that had been flashing for most of the night had been shut off.
Moreno said he went back inside before police arrived but that he heard them coming down the street.
Other neighbors said there had been parties in the lot as recently as two weeks ago on a Friday or Saturday. Police had been called to the party two weeks prior, but a single patrol car drove through the area and then left, the officer never stepping out of the car. One neighbor said the call to police was just about the noise and that she didn’t know of any fighting or other trouble.
This is the first time in years anything has happened there warranting a large police response, according to residents in the neighborhood. One neighbor, who declined to give his name, said the last time he can remember any large police presence in the neighborhood prompted by something going on in the lot was what he described as a raid about five years ago.
Police said that on Sunday morning, the suspect pulled a gun after an argument escalated and shot at the victim multiple times, hitting him at least once before fleeing the scene ahead of the police’s arrival.
Video posted on Facebook showed a swarm of people who appeared to be teenagers fleeing the scene as police arrived. The person who posted the video said the shooting happened at a prom after-party, and comments on the post suggested that older people were there as well.
Moreno and another neighbor both said they were also told it was a prom after-party, but Moreno said he didn’t see any of the attendees dressed up as if they’d just been to such an event.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the name of the victim after his next-of-kin has been notified.
This story was originally published April 30, 2023 2:26 PM.