DALLAS — Updated at 6:02 p.m. with new information from police.
The 21-year-old son of a Dallas ISD school board trustee was killed in a shooting early Thursday in east Oak Cliff.
Officers responded around 1:37 a.m. in the 3600 block of Utah Avenue near Overton Road and found Christopher Whitfield lying in the middle of the street.
Whitfield, who had a gunshot wound to the chest, was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A neighbor told WFAA he heard 12 gunshots before officers arrived.
Police said no one has been arrested in connection with Whitfield's death.
His father is Maxie Johnson, a school board trustee representing West Dallas, Oaklawn and parts of south Oak Cliff. He was elected this year.
Trisha Allen, founder of the anti-crime organization No More Violence, saw Johnson on Wednesday when they discussed ways to help the family of a 9-year-old girl killed in the crossfire of a gang shooting.
Hours later his own son was killed.
Johnson's election profile says he's the single father of three children.
He has not publicly commented on his son's death.
School board trustee Miguel Solis wrote on social media that he prays for Johnson and the parents of 9-year-old Brandoniya Bennett.
"I pray for the families and friends of the many who have recently perished in our city due to the mindless menace of violence," Solis wrote. "Our lives on this planet are too short to let this spirit flourish any longer in Dallas. Something must change."
Violent crime in the area
There has been an uptick in violent crime this year in Dallas. There have been eight homicides in August, police records show. And aggravated assaults have increased 6% this year compared to 2018.
Dallas police Maj. Danny Williams said investigators have few leads on Whitfield's death. He asked people in the neighborhood to tell officers if they saw or heard anything.
"We're asking the community to help us," Williams said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. "We can't do it by ourselves. Again, we're reaching out as a department. We're reaching out as a community. We're reaching out as a city."
"If you see something, say something," Williams said.
He said the neighborhood where Whitfield was killed has had "some gang activity."
Whitfield's death occurred less than a mile away from a separate shooting of a man and a woman an hour later. Police have not said the cases are connected.
Officers responded to a shooting call around 2:45 a.m. in the 200 block of Overton Road, where they found a 54-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to the arm.
The woman told police she picked up two men and a woman in the 2900 block of Ledbetter Drive to give them a ride to meet her friend in the 700 block of Ann Arbor Avenue, police said.
When the woman and the trio met her friend, he got in the car and they all drove to the 200 block of Overton Road, where one of the men shot the woman and the man, before pushing the woman out of her car and driving away, officials said.
The second shooting victim, a 51-year-old man, was found back in the 700 block of Ann Arbor Avenue. He had a gunshot wound to the chest and is critical condition, police said.
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