Latest news with #FortWorthPoliceDepartment
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dallas, Fort Worth Police Ready Ahead of ‘No Kings Day' Mobilization
Police in Dallas and Fort Worth are preparing for this weekend's protests against President Donald Trump. Left-wing activists are planning nationwide protests against Trump June 14, dubbed 'No Kings Day.' Various demonstrations will take place across the DFW metroplex. As The Dallas Express previously reported, this comes on the heels of violent anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles and Dallas. Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker told The Dallas Express she has 'full faith' in the Fort Worth Police Department to manage the 'No Kings Day' protest this Saturday. She said, 'the city has been coordinating with state and federal agencies to allow for peaceful protests but upholding law and order in our community.' Fort Worth Police will be monitoring the protests, said Officer Cynthia Wood in an email to The Dallas Express. 'The Fort Worth Police Department is working closely with our community and our Intelligence Fusion Center to monitor all activity during any peaceful protests that may take place in the City of Fort Worth,' Wood said. The Dallas Police Department's 'main priority' is the safety of people who 'live, work, and visit' the city, according to a statement Lt. Tramese Jones provided to The Dallas Express. 'The Department will not interfere with a lawful and peaceful assembly of any individuals or groups expressing their First Amendment rights,' Jones said. 'Participants will see our patrols as they always do at large events.' The Dallas Express asked for more specific details, but Jones said, 'we do not release that information for operational reasons.' 'No King's Day' protests are scheduled for June 14 in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth, according to an online event map. The left-wing demonstrations are also set to take place in Arlington, Burleson, Denton, Euless, Flower Mound, Frisco, McKinney, and Sanger. The Indivisible Project, a powerful left-wing network, is working with other prominent progressive advocacy groups to sponsor 'No Kings' protests across the nation June 14. The group has boosted similar protest movements earlier this year, providing things like 'infrastructure to get the campaign off the ground,' according to The Federalist. As The Dallas Express previously reported, Indivisible was funded in part by George Soros' Open Society Foundations. Indivisible's Fort Worth chapter targeted Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare and County Commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez in a post on Bluesky. 'Black, Brown, White, queer, immigrant, working class. We rise together! We're done w leaders who divide us. WE run the show. Not the likes of Tim O'Hare, Manny Ramirez, and Matt Krause, trying to build their MAGA safehaven.' 'Peaceful demonstrations are a constitutional right as long as they don't escalate into violence, rioting and lawlessness like what we've seen in California. That type of behavior will not be tolerated in Tarrant County,' O'Hare said to The Dallas Express. 'I have full confidence in the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office and all our local police departments that law and order will be maintained. Tarrant County has earned its reputation as a safe place to live, and we intend to keep it that way.' The 'No Kings' protests are partnering with groups including 50501, which – as The Dallas Express previously reported – targeted the metroplex with demonstrations earlier this year. Other prominent groups include the ACLU, Bernie Sanders and his group Our Revolution, Move On of the Tesla Takedown protests, and May Day Strong of the recent May Day protests. Organizers are coordinating the protests through the left-wing platform Mobilize America. As The Federalist previously reported, Mobilize falls under Bonterra – which was launched by the London-based private firm Apax Partners, and which also oversees the Democrat Party's comprehensive voter database. The Dallas Express reached out to 'No Kings,' but the group did not comment in time for publication.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fort Worth Shooting: One Dead, Two Injured In Memorial Day Homicide
The Fort Worth Police Department is investigating a murder after a shooter killed one victim and wounded two others on Memorial Day weekend. Police officers responded to a shooting call in the Fairhaven neighborhood of southeast Fort Worth on May 25, according to a press release. Detectives found a shooter had wounded three victims, one of whom later died. When officers responded to the area near 4200 Carmel Ave. at 3:18 p.m., they found a victim with 'at least one gunshot wound,' according to the release. First responders took the victim to a nearby hospital 'where he was pronounced deceased.' The victim who died after the shooting is 21-year-old Alvion Ferrell Norris, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner. He died at 4:04 p.m. in the 'hospital ER' of 'multiple gunshot wounds.' His manner of death has been labeled a 'homicide.' Detectives reported the shooting victims were 'in a parked car' when the suspect approached the vehicle and 'had a brief conversation with them,' according to the release. 'The suspect produced a handgun and shot into the vehicle striking all three victims,' the release reads. The victim who later died – now identified as Norris – 'exited the vehicle to run away but collapsed a short distance from the vehicle.' The suspect then fled the scene on foot. The two other victims 'drove themselves to a local hospital' for treatment of their wounds, according to the release. 'Their condition is unknown at this time.' The Fort Worth Police Department's Homicide Unit is investigating the killing. The Dallas Police Department investigated three murders that took place across the city during Memorial Day weekend, as The Dallas Express reported at the time. Fort Worth police also investigated two shooting deaths the previous week after arguments turned violent.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cornyn, Welch introduce the Carla Walker Act to help solve cold cases
May 22—WASHINGTON U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT) on Thursday introduced the Carla Walker Act, which would dedicate existing federal grant funds to support forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) DNA analysis and help solve previously unsolvable cold cases. The bill is named for Carla Walker, a Fort Worth native whose murderer was finally identified 46 years after her death with the help of this advanced technology. "Fort Worth native Carla Walker was abducted in a bowling alley and tragically murdered in 1974, but it took more than four decades and the advent of forensic genetic genealogy DNA analysis for her killer to be identified and brought to justice," said Sen. Cornyn. "I am proud to have authored this legislation, which would make this cutting-edge DNA testing technology more widely available to law enforcement so they can better identify and prosecute offenders, solve cold cases, and bring closure to victims' families." "Advancements in forensic DNA technology have revolutionized our ability to combat crime. In Vermont, detectives were able to use forensic genetic genealogy analysis to help provide answers to a family who thought they might never come. We've also seen how this technology can be a powerful tool in giving those wrongly accused a chance to clear their names," said Sen. Welch. "Our bipartisan bill will help investigators across the country harness the incredible power of FGG technology to crack cold cases and deliver justice to countless victims and families, and I'm thankful for Senator Cornyn's leadership on it." U.S. Congressman Wesley Hunt (TX-38) is leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives. Background: Typically, when a suspect's identity is unknown, a crime laboratory uploads the genetic material recovered from a crime scene into the FBI's national database to search for DNA matches between the forensic sample and any known offenders. While this traditional form of forensic DNA profiling only examines 13-20 Short tandem repeat (STR) DNA markers, forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) technology examines over half a million Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) that span the entirety of the human genome. It does so by cross-referencing shared blocks of SNP markers to identify relatives of the genetic profile by uncovering shared blocks of DNA. This enables criminal investigators to build family trees that ultimately help determine the sample's identity and solve cases. Carla Walker was abducted from a bowling alley parking lot in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 17, 1974. Her body was found three days later in a drainage ditch 30 minutes south of Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Police Department was able to collect a few forensic samples and clothing items from the crime scene, but law enforcement could not solve the murder due to limited forensic technology at the time. Carla's brother, Jim Walker, never stopped searching for answers and nearly 50 years later, FGG DNA analysis was conducted on the last remaining DNA on a piece of Walker's clothing, which led to a successful DNA match with the McCurley family and ultimately identified Glen McCurley, Jr. as the killer, who confessed in 2021 and died in prison on July 14, 2023. Sen. Cornyn's Carla Walker Act would create a pilot program to make this cutting-edge FGG DNA analysis more widely available to investigative agencies to: — Aid in resolving previously unsolvable cold cases; — Assist in the identification of criminals; — Seek justice for previously unidentified victims; — Help exonerate wrongly accused suspects; — And bring closure for the victims' loved ones.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Fort Worth police searching for missing 18-year-old autistic woman
Fort Worth police are asking for the public's help locating a missing 18-year-old autistic woman, according to a post on the department's Facebook page. Maricella Denise Gray was last seen in the 2300 block of Yucca Avenue in Fort Worth around 1 p.m. Tuesday, police said. Gray is a Black female, is 5 feet, 3 inches tall and has black hair and brown eyes, according to the post. She was last seen wearing a black long-sleeve shirt, black pants, black-rimmed glasses and carrying a black backpack. Anyone with information about Gray should call the Fort Worth Police Department at 817-392-4222, officials said.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Yahoo
Man Tries to Perform Exorcism, Instead Allegedly Murders His Mother
When it comes to battling demons trapped inside your loved ones, maybe it's best to leave it to the professionals. Take that from Alexander Valdez, a 23-year-old man accused of murdering his mother in a botched DIY exorcism in Fort Worth, Texas last week. Police rolled up to Valdez' house a little after midnight last Friday, tipped off about a "satanic ritual" which he allegedly recorded and sent to his friends on Snapchat. When officers knocked on his front door, a nonchalant Valdez emerged, coated in blood and clutching a bible. "It was an exorcism," he told police calmly, before allegedly adding — contradictively? — that "I was doing witchcraft to kill my mom." Asked if there was anybody else in the house, Valdez apparently admitted "there is a dead body in there. It's my mom." The cops then searched the house, where they indeed found the body of the man's mother, 58-year-old Teresita Sayson, as well as that of the family's dog. "Thank goodness for the people that were on Snapchat that said that he wanted to do this satanic ritual," Tracy Carter of the Fort Worth Police Department said, referring to the anonymous tipsters who passed the alleged posts off to local police. The horrifying incident is no doubt the result of a mental health emergency which went unaddressed — an all too common occurrence in the US, where nonexistent social services and ineffective mental healthcare exacerbate a systemic crisis of mental illness. And digging into the cultural aspect, the alleged murder also fits with a resurgence of the belief in exorcism and witchcraft in the US, a phenomenon which coincides with disruptions in "social relations, high levels of anxiety, [and] pessimistic worldview," according to social-economy researcher Boris Gershman. As American social norms fray, people aren't just turning to exorcism of their own volition. Rather, they're led to it by a growing clique of pseudo-religious influencers, who use platforms like Tik Tok and YouTube to cash in on wild ritual spectacles via social media. Sam Kestenbaum is a writer who embedded with Greg Locke, an infamous "Demon Slayer" in Tennessee. In a lengthy exposé on the resurgence of demonology for Harper's Magazine, Kestenbaum notes that Locke has used his sensationalist platform to tout vaccine skepticism, accuse Democratic politicians of being demons, and stoke claims that the 2020 election was stolen — topics which gel a little too well with those already prone to conspiracy hysterics. "The controversial stuff really drove traffic," Locke told him. The preacher's cushy media empire includes a team of cameramen to film his "exorcisms" as they happen, production assistants, a drone operator, regular demonology seminars, a podcast, and a publishing house peddling books on faith-based wonders — all to keep the magic alive for his flock of eager consumers. The draw for Locke is obvious enough. But when it comes to growing appeal of exorcism for the masses, Kestenbaum puts it well. "Who would deny that this cursed land is in need of a deep cleanse with a power washer?" he wrote. "This, our country of suburban satanic panics, active-shooter drills, and jump-scare franchises, of mob riots, hollowed-out downtowns, and tech paranoias... and lo, a cavalry of screen-ready revivalists has arrived to wage the End Times war against the satanic infantry." More on religion: Atheists Appalled as Elon Musk Embraces "Teachings of Christ'
