Neighbors Outraged After Facebook Post Spurs Violence
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ALLEN (CBSDFW.COM) - An argument that began on Facebook turned violent when police say nine people drove from Dallas to confront another group in an Allen neighborhood.
That's when bullets started flying.
Police said it's a complicated investigation because in addition to the forensic team looking into the Facebook chatter, officers need to interview 16 different people and get all their stories straight.
Hours after the gunfire started it wasn't until daylight that investigators were able to find more shell casings further away from the home at the center of the investigation.
Bernard Gunn, Jr.'s childhood home is just two doors down. He arrived to find bullet holes in his father's truck.
"It just infuriates me that other people from other towns would come in and think it's okay to just come over and destroy a neighborhood," Gunn said.
The damage to Gunn's father's truck shows just how much distance the gunfire covered. One yard over, police found another truck with a bullet hole. And people on the Allen side of the argument were one more house over.
"We've been here for 30 years. We remember it was nothing but pastureland all around," Bernard's mother Vickie Gunn said.
The gunshots awoke Vickie and her husband. The couple stayed inside until police arrived. Officers arrested Devonte Wade, 20, for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon and detained the eight other members of the Dallas group. Neighbors soon learned about the disagreement between their neighbors and the Dallas group started on social media.
"They said it was over a stupid argument over Facebook," Vickie said.
Bernard can understand people sounding off behind the wall of social media, but he worries that now any angry tweet or Facebook post could lead to stray bullets hitting innocent neighbors.
"You know, words ain't gonna kill you, but bullets will. And people got to start taking that more seriously. Life is too short," Bernard said.
Police tell us some of the people they've detained have multiple outstanding warrants, so they expect more arrests to follow as the investigation continues.