Fort Worth football player's epic prom night party ends in gunfire
FORT WORTH — From epic to a crime scene, a football player's prom after-party became too big and attracted uninvited guests, the boy's mother said.
Fort Worth Police said three adult males attended the gathering in the 3900 block of Singleleaf Lane. They were called to the house just before 1 a.m.
Officers said three men were shot but left the scene. Investigators said that two of them went to John Peter Smith Hospital. The third person who was critically injured went to another facility before CareFlight brought him back to JPS Hospital.
Leonora Castillo said she thought forty guests tops would be her only son's prom bash. But party crashers, some of whom she said were out of high school, came to the event at her home. CBS News Texas is not naming her son since he's not been implicated or faces criminal charges.
The mother of five said a game of dice or dominoes evolved into a fight. The fight, she said, led to gunfire.
"At first it was just a fun, you're in high school, enjoy your prom," Riley Wiggins said. "Then it ended with screams that you will probably hear for the rest of your life."
Riley and Marcos Wiggins live next door to Castillo's family. They said the noise at midnight became a dash to the closet where the couple hid. Marcos Wiggins had to calm his wife.
"Then around 12:50 a.m., 12:51 a.m., 12:52 a.m. is when we heard a series of gunshots, maybe eight or so, maybe more," Marcos Wiggins said.
The couple would not release surveillance video to CBS News Texas but allowed a viewing. A bevy of partygoers start running, following at least twelve seconds of gunfire.
"I could hear the sound of cars driving back and forth screeching, and then all of a sudden boom boom boom boom boom," Eric Tatum said.
Tatum said he grabbed his gun and told his wife where to position herself in their home safely.
Sunday, he found a bullet hole in his garage door and a slug inside near a water hose. He called FWPD back out to his home to collect it.
"Acts of violence like that, you have a tendency to have a ripple effect because it just doesn't affect the one victim," he said. "You have the families, then you have the friends, and then you have people like me that don't even know 'em in feel for 'em."
Tatum said crime events like this never happen in their neighborhood. The Wiggins' said the same thing. Castillo said she was praying.
She took her family to church on Sunday, especially after hearing one of the victims was deceased. Police had no confirmation of a death related to the case.
Police have not said who will face criminal charges in the case.