Outrage after drive-by shooting in North Texas injures 4 children
FORT WORTH — Neighbors in the Las Vegas Trail neighborhood said they're shaken up and worried about everyone's safety. following the shooting Wednesday night.
"We all just lost like 'why, it's kids?' When you see kids outside you should have kept rolling. It's kids outside. Why would you start shooting?" said one neighbor who asked us not to share her name.
Fort Worth police say someone or a group of people in a car drove by an apartment complex around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and started shooting. Six people were hit. Four of the victims were children. The youngest victim was just three years old.
Neighbors say children play outside the apartment complex in the 3000 block of Las Vegas Trail all the time.
Fort Worth police have not identified any suspects or a motive but believe it's an isolated incident.
"It's a hard pill to swallow because I'm a mother of three and a grandmother of one, " said Natasha Woods, a resident in the community. "But my heart goes out to them and I hope these kids recover [from] this."
The city of Fort Worth has been tackling the issue of violence and poverty in the Las Vegas Trail community for years. According to the organization LVT Rise, 72 percent of people in this neighborhood live 200 percent below the poverty line.
ShaVonne Davis works with youth across Fort Worth to prevent violence through after-school and summer programs.
"Devastating. I could never get used to hearing it, but what I can say is I'm tired of hearing it," said ShaVonne Davis the founder of Maroon 9 Community Enrichment Organization and Acting With Mrs. Davis. She teaches a conflict resolution and theater workshop for Fort Worth youth. She just taught the 8-week program to a group of young people in the Las Vegas Trail community this January and February.
"That's the first thing I thought about, what if one of the students that I taught was a victim," said Davis.
She says now more than ever it's important to get young people engaged in productive activities that keep them off the streets for the summer.
"I encourage parents to find some sort of enrichment for their kiddos to do in the summertime to take their mind away to enrich their minds and just keep them busy," said Davis.