DALLAS — Ree Carter says she is still trying to cope with the murder of her husband, Ronnie Carter, three years ago. He was shot and killed in a robbery in front of his grandmother’s house in Dallas.
And then last weekend, Ronnie's older brother Marlon Bell was also murdered in Oak Cliff.
"It's horrifying that it hit double. A second time,” Carter said.
There hasn't been an arrest in either case.
“We want justice. We want to know who took our loved ones from us, took my husband, took my childrens' father. He was a great guy. We want justice," Carter said.
Dallas homicide detectives are overwhelmed with the number of murders this year. There have been 194 so far in 2019 compared to 148 at the same time last year.
"It's scary. I'm a native of Dallas all my life and I have been here all my life. From my understanding what we see is a high rate of crime, murder and you still have these people out running around the streets killing murdering robbing and it's horrifying," Carter said.
Dallas mayor Eric Johnson and some City Council members say they are frustrated with the police department's leadership.
They are demanding a plan to help fight violent crime.
In the two years Renee Hall has been Dallas police chief she has yet to present a detailed plan to the council on fighting the city's murder rate.
“What are the root causes of crime? What DPD proposes to do about it specifically for a certain amount of time is what we need to find out,” Johnson said.
When Hall was hired, she promised transparency. But today at two different locations she avoided the media and wouldn’t answer questions.
She also left town last week immediately after the mayor released a letter demanding a plan to fight violent crime.
Citizens say they, too, want answers.
“They have a due diligence to serve the people of Dallas and I don't think they are doing that,” said Carter.
For families like Ree Carter's, they say they are tired of excuses and want results because for them their loved ones are more than just a statistic.
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