The Victim: Savannah Carrillo
The Crime: Criminal mischief
Date: Monday, June 6
Time: Between 5:30 p.m. and 6:40 p.m.
Location: 2000 block of Emmett
After a long day of work, Savannah Carrillo was readying her kids to hit the pool. They were going to a nearby water park for a nice outing to beat the summer heat. They had their swimsuits and beach towels ready.
Then all of a sudden — boom.
“It was about 5:30, and I was talking with my mother in the kitchen and we heard a gun go off,” Carrillo says. “It sounded really loud.”
They knew that the gunshot had to be close, but had no idea what might have happened. Random gunshots are a normal occurrence in Oak Cliff, Carrillo says. The family finished packing for the swim outing and headed out to the car. As the family was about to pile in and drive off, she noticed a one-centimeter dent in the right rear passenger door. She says the dent was clearly made from a gunshot, but did not pierce the door. It did cause some paint damage, however, that will have to be repaired.
Carillo decided to call police.
“We normally hear gunshots here and the police ask us to report it. If we did, we’d be on the phone all the time,” Carrillo says.
As she described the events to officers, she heard four or five more gunshots. Officers asked her to call back and make a separate report for that gunfire.
The Carrillos have lived at their Sunset Heights home since 1996, but she says the neighborhood has grown progressively worse. Recently, Carrillo says, drugs have been a problem in the area.
“It makes me feel very unsafe and scared,” she says. “My husband and I are in the process of finding another home.”
Dallas Police Commander Vernon Hale of the Southwest Patrol Division says the area has actually seen a decrease in reported gunfire this year, but residents should continue to call police with as much information as possible. Residents should report the number of shots, direction fired from, any suspect or vehicle descriptions, and if there are shell casings for police to collect as a sample.
“We have had about 1,000 shots fired calls this year, which represents a 21 percent decrease over last year. We continue to make attempts to educate the public on the dangers of firing weapons,” he says. “What goes up must come down by law of physics, and people can get hurt. While Oak Cliff citizens are getting much better each year, we really hope individuals will think about the safety of others before choosing to fire a weapon.
3034
Block of East Illinois where Jin Kim Ha was fatally shot in the neck and died in her husband’s arms outside Quick Check Grocery over Fourth of July weekend
64
Age of the victim who had owned the convenience store with her husband, Jung Nam Ha, 67, for more than 20 years
3
Number of suspects believed to be responsible for the murder; police arrested one 24-year-old man, Robert C. Roberson Jr., who confessed to his role in driving the getaway vehicle
