By Sarah Bahari, Jamie Landers and Noor Adatia
FORT WORTH — At first, it sounded like more fireworks, one deafening boom after another.
Then came the screams and bodies crashing to the pavement, as hundreds of revelers scrambled to safety behind buildings or cars, looking for loved ones along the way.
The gunfire erupted shortly before midnight when police say several men fired at random into a crowd gathered nearly two hours after ComoFest, a Fourth of July festival in Como, a historic neighborhood in West Fort Worth.
Chaos and confusion were captured in a video of the shooting posted on Facebook, when, after more than two dozen shots ring out, a man is heard yelling, “Where, where, where?” and “Take cover!”
People running in the street are nearly hit by cars as drivers race to leave. More shots sound in short bursts as fireworks continue to launch in the distance.
Upon arrival, officers found multiple bodies in a parking lot in the 3400 block of Horne Street, near Diaz Avenue. A total of 11 people were shot — three fatally. One person was pronounced dead at the scene, while two others died later. The remaining eight were being treated in hospitals.
Among the dead were Paul Willis, an 18-year-old who worked long hours at a fast food restaurant to save up for his own car, and Cynthia Santos, a 22-year-old described as supportive and family-oriented.
A third victim, Gabriella Navarrete, 18, was identified Wednesday by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner.
Of the 11 shooting victims, police said 10 were adults and one was a child.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrests had been made and a motive for the shooting was unclear, but police confirmed none of the wounded were suspects.
‘He did not deserve to die’
Ka’Desha Weatherly, Willis’ mother, told The Dallas Morning News she heard what sounded like 100 gunshots and began running down the street to find her son and nephews. Unknowingly, Weatherly ran past her son’s body. When she found her three nephews without her son, she knew.
Willis recently graduated from Arlington Heights High School and accepted an apprenticeship to become an electrician, Weatherly said. In the meantime, he worked nearly every day at McDonald’s, occasionally giving neighborhood kids free food.
Monday was a rare day off, so Willis spent it with friends and family at ComoFest. Now, he was gone.
Next to splatters of her son’s dried blood, Weatherly planted a box of pink roses. In black marker, she wrote “His name was Paul Timothy Willis.”
“He was a beautiful young man,” said Weatherly, 39. “He did everything right. He did not deserve to die.”
A cousin of Cynthia Santos, 28-year-old Tania Torres, told The News Santos worked at Pak-A-Pocket, a Gyro restaurant in Fort Worth.
“She was a hard worker,” Torres said, adding Santos was also family-oriented. “She was always supporting me and my crazy ideas. I loved her like a sister.”
A GoFundMe was created Tuesday to help cover Santos’ funeral expenses.
In act of support, parade goes on
On Tuesday, on the same stretch of road where the shooting had taken place hours earlier, hundreds gathered for the community’s annual parade, a neighborhood tradition for more than 70 years. The historically Black community started ComoFest in 2021 to complement the parade.
As they sat in lawn chairs and under shade umbrellas Tuesday, paradegoers said they showed up to support and celebrate the Como community, especially after the shooting.
Robert Nichols, 53, watched a line of classic cars and cowboys on horseback make its way down the street. Around him, trash from the previous night still littered the ground.
“It’s a shame. It doesn’t make any sense,” Nichols said. “People just wanted to celebrate the Fourth of July.”
Linda Glasco, 72, who grew up in Como and attends the parade every year, described the neighborhood as so close-knit that people typically cooked enough barbecue to serve any number of neighbors who showed up.
“This is a good, strong community,” she said. “But all of this violence and killing has got to stop.”
Amanda Padilla, 40, who recently moved from Como to Far West Fort Worth, said the community is badly shaken.
“This can happen anywhere,” she said. “This time, it happened here.”
This is not the first time ComoFest has been marred by violence. In 2021, eight people were shot and wounded near a car wash following the festival during an argument involving a group of men. Most of those shot were innocent bystanders, police said at the time.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, who passed out candy at the parade, said on Twitter she was devastated by news of Monday’s shooting.
“My heart breaks for the victims, their loved ones, and the entire Como community that works to build positivity and celebration in their community and our city.”
The Fort Worth shooting comes one year after a gunman opened fire at a Fourth of July parade in Illinois, killing seven and wounding dozens more.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday said an “epidemic of gun violence” is tearing communities apart. He urged lawmakers to act on gun reform with a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and implementation of universal background checks.
Police asked that anyone with information or videos in connection with the Fort Worth shooting contact the department’s homicide unit at 817-392-4330 or Crime Stoppers.
“The Fort Worth Police Department mourns together with the families of those who were killed and injured and we deplore this senseless act of violence,” the department wrote in a statement. “We ask our Fort Worth community to show their support for these families during this difficult time.”
| This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas- at the bottom. |
