One week after a shooting at an outdoor concert in southeast Oak Cliff left one person dead and 16 others injured, the parents of one of the victims have filed a lawsuit saying change is needed to make sure this can’t happen again.Their lawyer spoke with NBC 5’s Allie Spillyards.
In a lawsuit filed this week, the parents of one of the 17 victims shot at an outdoor concert in southeast Oak Cliff last weekend claim it was a "preventable tragedy."
They want all involved, including promoters, artists and the church that owns the property, held accountable, according to their attorney Ryan Thompson.
"In promoting this event, what they have promoted is that Dallas police would be on hand and that there would be upwards of 60 members of security teams, that you would have to go through a metal detector, no bags would be allowed, the kinds of things that you and I would expect to see at most events that we go to, right?" said Thompson.
Instead, his clients Michael and Gloria Rollerson claim none of those things happened when their 14-year-old daughter went with her volleyball team to the event, which was promoted as family-friendly.
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When the shooting began at 11:30 p.m., she was hit in the leg by a bullet that narrowly missed her femoral artery.
They said she was just released from the ICU in the last couple of days.
Kealon Dejuane Gilmore, 26, was killed in the shooting. Of the 16 who were injured, four were juveniles according to police.
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“They didn't even start out of the gate right. They didn't even pull a permit for an event, which is required for any event over 100 people, so it was just a recipe for disaster,” said Thompson.
Beyond accountability, Thompson echoed calls from city and police leaders for change.
"I hope that the city lives up to the things that they are saying, and that is that there will be accountability and that unpermitted events like this won't happen again,” he said.
That lawsuit names 11 different people and organizations who participated in organizing the concert. NBC 5 has reached out to them and is awaiting a response.
