A security guard was killed and five others were wounded in a pair of shootings overnight Tuesday in Deep Ellum, according to Dallas police. 

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Officers were first dispatched about 10:20 p.m. to the 2900 block of Commerce Street, where police spokesperson Corbin Rubinson said five people had been struck by gunfire. 

Shortly before midnight, a second shooting was reported three blocks away near a restaurant and nightclub in the 2800 block of Elm Street. Police said Detorius Tarver, 23, shot and killed a security guard who was trying to break up a fight involving Tarver. The security guard, Joseph Gray, 26, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Tarver was booked into the Dallas County jail, where he faces a murder charge. He was still on probation after pleading guilty in 2024 to a felony charge of evading arrest in a vehicle in Dallas County, court records show. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney.

The Commerce Street shooter remains at large.

The shootings come as public safety in Deep Ellum has drawn renewed attention from residents and city leaders, particularly after violent crime rose in the entertainment district last summer. 

The increase led to a number of community meetings and prompted the Deep Ellum Foundation, the nonprofit that helps manage the neighborhood, to revise its public safety plan. The group wants the city to rethink how it regulates late-night venues, calling for the creation of a new permit for businesses that regularly host entertainment after hours.

Stephanie Keller Hudiburg, the nonprofit’s director, acknowledged the “deep sadness” the neighborhood was facing after the shootings and thanked police. She also echoed calls for the city to act on recommendations in the group’s public safety plan.

“We continue steadfastly in our mission to do everything in our power to protect Deep Ellum and welcome everyone to a safe, inviting neighborhood,” she said in a statement.

The nonprofit has credited its 2022 safety plan with helping pave the way for Dallas police to create the Deep Ellum Task Force, a team of officers assigned to the neighborhood Wednesday through Saturday. Referring to that schedule, Rubinson said the task force was not in the entertainment district Tuesday evening.

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The nonprofit’s amended plan, released in March, calls for expanding the task force from its current four-day schedule to a seven-day presence by adding a second eight-officer shift and another sergeant.

Hudiburg said the nonprofit hired additional off-duty officers to work Tuesday evening in anticipation of Cinco De Mayo events.

As the neighborhood’s coffee shops and cafes opened Wednesday morning, subtle reminders of the crime scenes remained. Near a restaurant on Elm, balloons in the colors of the Mexican flag sat outside, a token of the night’s Cinco De Mayo celebrations.

A few steps away, bloody footprints stained the sidewalk.

There stood Christopher Kavanaugh, 33, who has lived in Dallas for three years. Kavanaugh said he loved Deep Ellum so much, he started filming social media videos to support its small businesses.

It saddens him, he said, to watch such recurring violence take away from their success.

“It’s pretty, unfortunate that you can’t go out and celebrate,” Kavanaugh said. “You have to constantly look over your shoulder.”

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