LUBBOCK, Texas– EverythingLubbock.com recently reached out to Lubbock Police Capt. Ray Mendoza to get a break-down of the various types of shots fired calls that police responded to since January 1.
Whatever the case may be for a shots fired call, LPD will respond to each call received by dispatch for the city, said Mendoza.
While the list gets extensive and quite specific, the amount of homicide calls from January to July were up to eight, according to police.
While that number may be unsettling for Lubbockites, Mendoza said that in most cases, there was an existing relationship between the offender and the victim.
“The vast majority of [the shot fired calls] — there was an existing relationship, whether it was a domestic situation, a friendship gone south,” he said. “Some kind of relationship existed. Very few [calls] appeared to be random.”
Moreover, some of the shots fired calls were not as serious. For instance, Mendoza said in March someone thought a shot was fired, but really it was a lawnmower hitting a rock
Other shots fired calls since January included a discharge of a firearm in a municipality. A good example of this is when an officer received a call from dispatch for a shots fired call from Flying J’s, 602 Marsha Sharp Freeway, on July 25, according to a police report.
“The reporting party advised she heard shots fired in the area,” the report states. “Officers began checking the area and were able to locate a crime scene in the 800 block of 3rd Place.”
An officer on scene advised he “observed several subjects running away from the D&D Paint and Body Shop, 335 Buddy Holly.”
Although six shell casings were located in the roadway in the 800 block of 3rd Place, no victims were located in the area or at local hospitals, according to the report.
The police report specifically stated the suspect “recklessly discharged a firearm in a municipality.”
The entire number of shots fired in a municipality from January to July are currently at 41, according to police crime analysis statistics.
While the number of unverified shots fired calls were in the hundreds by July, Mendoza said these are the incidents where police were unable to be located a suspect or a crime scene. But however serious an incident of shots fired may be, Mendoza urges anyone who may hear possible gunshots to always call it into police.
“We don’t want to discourage anybody from calling us,” he said. “If you believe you’re hearing gunfire, then you need to call us so we can at least respond and investigate.”
JANUARY 2019:
- Unverified: 128
- Agg Assault damage only: 4
- Agg Assault no injury: 1
- Agg Assault with injury: 2
- Burglary no damage or injury: 1
- Cap gun for birds: 3
- Deadly conduct: 1
- Discharge municipality: 5
- Aggressive Dog: 1
- Fireworks: 14
- Homicide: 2
- Negligent Discharge with injury: 1
- Self-inflicted: 1
- Theft no injury or damage: 1
- Vehicle burglary no injury/damage: 1
FEBRUARY 2019:
- Unverified: 72
- Agg Assault damage only: 1
- Agg Assault no injury or damage: 2
- Agg Assault with injury: 2
- Agg Kidnapping no injury/damage: 1
- Burglary damage only: 1
- Deadly conduct only: 4
- Discharge in municipality: 5
- Fireworks: 2
- Negligent Discharge with injury and damage: 1
- No shots fired: 1
- Tampering with Evidence: 1
MARCH 2019:
- Unverified: 95
- Agg Assault damage only: 2
- Agg Assault no damage or injury: 1
- Agg Assault with injury: 3
- Agg assault with injury and damage: 3
- Agg Robbery with injury: 1
- Aggressive dog: 2
- BB gun: 1
- Deadly Conduct damage only: 1
- Discharge in municipality: 8
- Fireworks: 1
- Lawn Mower hitting rock: 1
- No shots fired: 1
APRIL 2019:
- Unverified: 148
- Agg Assault damage only: 3
- Agg Assault no injury: 3
- Agg assault with injury: 5
- Agg robbery: 1
- Aggressive Dog: 1
- BB Gun: 1
- Damage only: 1
- Deadly conduct damage only: 3
- Discharge in municipality: 4
- Electrical lines touching: 1
- Fireworks: 7
- Homicide: 2
- Negligent Discharge no injury: 2
- Negligent Discharge with injury: 1
- Stabbing, not a shooting: 1
- Starter pistol for birds: 1
- Vehicle backfired: 1
MAY 2019:
- Unverified: 152
- Agg Assault damage only: 7
- Agg Assault no damage/injury: 1
- Agg Assault with injury: 1
- BB Gun: 1
- Deadly conduct damage only: 4
- Discharge in municipality: 6
- Fireworks: 2
- Honor Guard: 1
- Into the air: 2
- Negligent discharge with damage: 1
- Negligent discharge with injury: 2
- Verified no shots fired: 1
- Self-inflicted: 1
JUNE 2019:
- Unverified: 136
- Agg Assault damage only: 3
- Agg Assault injury and damage: 2
- Agg Assault no injury: 3
- Agg Assault no damage or injury: 3
- Agg Assault with injury: 3
- BB Gun: 1
- Deadly Conduct with damage: 5
- Discharge in municipality: 8
- Disorderly conduct: 1
- False report: 1
- Fireworks: 7
- Home invasion with injury: 1
- Homicide: 1
- Negligent discharge with homicide: 1
- Negligent discharge with injury: 3
- No shots fired: 3
- Self-inflicted: 1
- Transformer blow up: 1
JULY 2019:
- Unverified: 133
- Fireworks: 13
- Verified no shots fired: 8
- Agg Assault with injury: 6
- Agg Assault damage only: 5
- Agg Assault no damage or injury: 4
- Agg Robbery Damage only: 1
- Agg Robbery injury: 1
- Burglary damage only: 1
- Burglary injury only: 1
- Deadly Conduct: 1
- Deadly conduct damage only: 2
- Deadly conduct no injury: 1
- Homicide: 3
- Discharge in municipality: 5
- Outside City Limits: 1
- Making firearm accessible to child: 1
- Negligent discharge damage only: 1
- Negligent discharge w/ injury: 1
