Dallas Trail Ride shooting victim's family calls for accountability
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Seven Dallas police officers remain the focus of an internal affairs investigation over their decisions the night two men fired into a crowd at an event, killing a 26-year-old man.
DPD says it has arrested those two men, but the victim's mother said on May 12 there's a lot more accountability to go around.
Astonial Calhoun, 25, and Divojiea Givens, 26, are the two men Dallas police say started the chaos at the Epic Easter Bike Out and Trail Party, firing the shots that killed Kealon Gilmore, 26.
His mother, Shalonda, is still haunted by that April 2 phone call. "That call plays over and over in my head. It's terrible, I jump a lot in my sleep now just thinking about [it]."
The event was held on property off I-20 and Bonneview owned by St. John Missionary Baptist Church.
Seven DPD officers were hired off duty to provide security but later left the crowd of as many as 2,000 young people unsupervised.
A total of 17 were shot during the melee, all of them under 30.
Since then, Chief Eddie Garcia has been working with the city council on an ordinance to require permits for large gatherings, which this one didn't have. "We asked for help and we've gotten it," he said.
Attorney Daryl Washington represents Gilmore's family and others in lawsuits filed that accuse the church, event promoters and the city of tolerating underage drinking and providing inadequate security before the violence broke out. "It reminds you so much of what took place at the AstroWorld event in Houston," he said, referring to the November 2021 tragedy that left 10 dead.
Police haven't said what provoked the shooting, but it doesn't matter now to Gilmore's mother and the brother he died in the arms of. "It was a lot of shooting and my brother got hit in the head... [it] doesn't make any sense," said Kendall Gilmore.
Givens was out on bond for deadly conduct when this happened and has a bond of $15,000. Calhoun's is $1,500.
Police say more arrests are possible if the public can provide more videos.