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Hundreds of shots-fired calls have come to Lubbock Police this year

Erica Pauda

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.

(Nexstar/Staff)

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

(Nexstar/Staff)

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.”

(Nexstar/Staff)
(Nexstar/Staff)

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.

(Nexstar/Staff)

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.”

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