Broken glass and bullet holes mark the scene of a deadly New Year’s Eve shooting at the Azure Banquet off Skillman Road. It's not the first shooting that's happened there, but a man claiming to be the club's owner told News 8 it will be the last.
Nineteen-year-old Christian Dawson died in the early hours of 2017. He was killed by a bullet that wasn't meant for him. Dawson’s death was the first murder of 2017.
"I don't even remember, I don't even remember, time just stood still and I froze,” said Audrey Dawson, Christian's Mother. “I couldn't comprehend what was happening.”
Dawson was a sophomore at Langston University in Oklahoma. He was raised in North Texas and his family had recently relocated to Ohio. Christian was ringing in the new year inside a party held at Azure Banquet Hall -- a rental space on the second floor of a strip mall.
Dallas Police said a shooter unloaded bullets, wounding four people -- hitting and killing Christian. Friends told Christian's mother that he died shielding a female partygoer from danger.
"As unimaginable as it is to think that he's not here -- to know that he sacrificed himself to save someone else speaks volumes," Audrey Dawson said.
Their pain is very real. It’s also very similar to the pain felt by the friends and family of 19-year-old Cassandra Subi.
“We know that bullets don’t have a name, but then at the same time, why here? She was at the right place right time,” Ladrea Lyons, a friend of Subi's, told News 8 in August. “It was too soon, to soon.”
The Skyline High School student was killed in the parking lot of the venue by a stray bullet.
Both parties were private and both were inside the Azure Banquet Hall.
Sources with Dallas Police said they've responded to multiple calls at this location, and, in the last sixth months, we've told you about two murders there -- Cassandra Subi and Christian Dawson.
A man, who did not give his name but claimed to be the venue owner, told News 8 by phone he was "freaked out and totally concerned" by the situation.
He also said he's shutting down the venue and has asked his landlord to get him out of his lease.
The move is hardly a comfort to Marcus Dawson, a father who has lost a son.
"He would tell us to use this time to bring some positive to this and to this environment -- too continue to speak out about the senseless violence that's going on,” Marcus Dawson said.
Police said that no arrest has been made in Subi's or Dawson's case. If you have any information you're asked to call Dallas Police: 1-877-373-Tips