More teenagers are dying from gun violence in Dallas. This is how we stop trauma

The photo was shared by a friend 17-year-old murder victim De’Marie Hill-Young speaks to the devastation of gun violence more than any words I could write.

In this photo taken a few years ago, three young Dallas teenagers are celebrating their eighth grade sports banquet. All three are now dead.

De’Marie was fatally shot on September 13 while spending the night at a friend’s house. 17-year-old David Washington was killed in the shooting at the Red Bird gas station a week before De’Marie’s death. Keymir McChriston, also 17, was shot dead in February

Three friends—high school athletes and good students with promising futures—were gunned down in apparently unrelated incidents.

While violent crime in Dallas is down more than 9% this year and homicides are down more than 27% from the same time in 2023, more teenagers are dying from gun violence. As of September 30 In 2024, there were 26 murders of teenagerscompared to 23 at the same time last year.

That’s why Dallas Morning News committed to profiling every life lost to violence in this city. Two months that I arranged effort among the most disturbing—and at times hopeless—journalistic jobs I’ve done. So many of the stories I’ve written relate to dead teenagers, teenagers allegedly killed by other teenagers or teenagers confess to murdering older Dallas residents.

Among those victims are Ikea Hood, 17, mortally wounded three weeks after she gave birth to a baby girl. Moises Gonzalez, 15, killed by another minor. Ja’Marcus Deshaun Smith, 16, who dreamed of getting his first car. Marcos Villanueva, 17 years old, taken while working at a local restaurant. Julian Zavala, 14 years old, who wanted to become a barber like his uncle.

“A tragic percentage of homicides this year have been children,” Alan Cohen, co-chair of the Mayor’s Task Force on Safe Communities, told me. “Any death is a tragedy, but it’s especially destabilizing to a whole community when it’s a young person.”

News Cohen said the homicide project makes it clear that the work against violent crime is far from over, especially when so many children are dying.

“For all the success we’ve had, we’re probably closer to the starting line than the finish line,” said Cohen, the company’s CEO. Dallas Child Poverty Laboratorywhose data analysis helped make the city safer for all residents.

During outgoing Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia’s tenure, he never wavered from his belief that public safety is a pillar of prevention, intervention and suppression. Dallas is doing pretty well with the first two, he said in our last interview before he left for his new job in Austin. “Where we lose — and it’s not just Dallas — is prevention.”

It’s easy to tell young people what not to do, but giving them positive alternatives is all too rare. That’s why, Garcia said, his job as police chief here occasionally meant time to provide a movie projector for the community center.

“When my kids are at the gym watching a movie at eight or nine on a Saturday night instead of being at a closed car wash down the street,” Garcia said, “this projector is a lifesaver.”

Garcia described CPAL’s Cohen as his “right-hand man” in violent crime prevention. In turn, Cohen emphasized that everyone — City Hall, Dallas ISD and community nonprofits — is leaning toward potential solutions.

Investments in disinvested areas violence is concentrated in small cells is the starting point. “We know zip codes in our city that are overrepresented in two places where we don’t want them to be overrepresented — incarceration and victimization,” Garcia said. “That’s where the dollars should go.”

Effective programming must include a short- and long-term strategy, Alex Piquero, a former UT-Dallas criminology professor and member of the Safe Communities Task Force, told me. The decisions have to come down to the 15-year-old who might pick up a gun tonight and the 5-year-old who might see a 15-year-old pick up a gun.

Teaching young people to consider the long-term consequences of their actions is key, Piquero said. “Today, when there are tons of guns on the streets, kids try to solve problems by shooting.”

Research shows that learning self-control has many benefits including less crime, better educational and employment outcomes, less alcohol and drug use, and better relationships. “It’s the one thing that works for everybody,” Piquero said. “But it’s a long game, not necessarily something that helps the current 18-year-old.”

In a world increasingly dependent on quick fixes, investments can be a tough sell. But the importance of intervention training is precisely because among the recommendations of the Dallas task forcethis included programming in DISD schools to help children learn to pause before acting. I wrote about two of these attempts, Becoming a Man (BAM) and Working on Womanhood (WOW)months after they were installed at several Dallas ISD campuses.

Piquero, now Head of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Miami noted the contrasts in opportunities for children growing up near Fair Park or Oak Cliff versus Frisco or McKinney.

“It’s not that these kids are bad,” he said. “They grow up in very bad circumstances and make very bad decisions because of how they’ve been socialized. And they have ready access to weapons.”

Like my colleague A recent report by Aria Jones revealedreducing violent youth crime is difficult. The mentorship, resources, and individualized solutions needed to deal with the problem are often unavailable to youth.

After the success of Dallas police in targeting micro-locations, the city’s next step — critical if it wants to reduce teen homicides — is to go into those places with evidence-based resources and programs. The work includes physical changes to the neighborhood, such as improved lighting and litter-free streets.

Cohen said focusing on the ground, along with teaching self-control, is the community’s most powerful tool to protect young people. In addition, according to him, it is necessary to support the neighborhood after the murder of a teenager, so that one death does not turn into numerous tragedies.

“It is important that community groups unite the family and the community so that there is no escalation,” he said.

related:In 2021, the Oak Cliff Apartments were named the most violent place in Dallas. What happened since then?

Cohen pointed to 2017 study by Princeton criminologist Patrick Sharkeyon the impact of non-profit organizations on violence. Based on data from 264 cities over a 20-year period, Sharkey’s team estimated that for every 10 organizations that focus on crime and community life in a city of 100,000 residents, the homicide rate drops by 9%, the violent crime rate by 6 % and a decrease in the level of property crimes by 4%.

Cohen believes local leaders, starting with DISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde, Interim City Manager Kimberly Beazor Tolbert and Interim Police Chief Michael Igoe, are focused on adding strategies to keep youth safe.

Among the examples Cohen cited: Elizalde was personally involved in securing funding for BAM and WOW intervention programs at several DISD campuses. Tolbert’s increased departmental consolidation and coordination, including a strike force approach to solving pressing problems, accelerated requests for district lighting and disease eradication.

I hope Cohen is right that Dallas City Hall is building muscle that can help prevent teen violence. I see a lot of worthy efforts scattered throughout the city and its schools, but it’s critical that the city brings all parties to the table — and keeps them there — until at-risk youth live into their futures.