Dallas, TX
Murders are down nationwide. So why are they up in Dallas?
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Dallas just closed the books on the city’s bloodiest year since 2020.
According to police data, murders and non-negligent manslaughter climbed to 246 in 2023, up from 214 a year earlier and the highest since the violent death toll reached 256 in 2020.
That’s a rate of 18.86 murders per 100,000 people in Dallas last year, up from 16.41 murders per 100,000 in 2022. At least 204 of those deaths resulted from a firearm, up roughly 8.51% from 2022. And while violence is found in all parts of Dallas, a significant portion of murders were concentrated in a handful of locations in southern and northwest Dallas neighborhoods. So far, 2024 in Dallas began at roughly a murder-a-day pace.
What makes these statistics so disconcerting — including 34 homicides in March alone — is that other violent crimes, including aggravated assault, are down, evidence that an innovative violent crime plan is having some success. Yet, the increase in murders and non-negligent manslaughter runs counter to a national decline in murders last year. New York and Chicago posted double-digit percentage declines, and Detroit recorded the fewest murders since the 1960s. In nearby Fort Worth, police reported in mid-December that the city’s homicide rate had decreased by more than 20% from 2022.
So why is Dallas an outlier, and not in a good way? That’s a trend this community needs to understand and reverse.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia attributes the murder count to personal arguments and senseless conflicts that involve victims who were engaged in criminal activity or high-risk behavior. And that suggests the chief’s Violent Crime Reduction Strategic Plan, introduced in May of 2021, has to evolve to address this intractable threat to public safety.
Garcia also has said he remains committed to reducing aggravated assaults, which have fallen, telling a Public Safety Committee meeting recently that “the way to reduce murder is to reduce the incidents of aggravated assault that cause murder.” However, Dallas continues to face chronic staffing shortages that limit police presence and the ability to disrupt criminal networks that contribute to violent crime.
Comparing crime statistics can be tricky due how various jurisdictions report them. But while the Major Cities Chiefs Association reports double-digit declines in homicide across nearly 70 of America’s largest cities, Dallas isn’t one of those experiencing a decline.
Cities and the federal government generally attribute the 2023 drop in homicides and other violent crimes to expanded efforts to prevent crime, such as bipartisan gun-control legislation passed by Congress, collaborative efforts with community volunteers, police on foot or bike patrols, targeting of gun possession in high-crime areas, improved lighting and better traffic control.
Michael Smith, a criminologist at the University of Texas San Antonio who worked with Dallas police to develop a crime reduction plan, has offered several suggestions. One is greater cooperation from the criminal justice system to better assess the risk a suspect poses to determine whether a person stays in jail or gets out while awaiting trial, a change that might require help from the Texas Legislature to avoid running afoul of protections in the state constitution. This echoes Garcia’s concern that other parts of the criminal justice system haven’t done enough to keep offenders from being returned to the streets where they often reoffend.
The crime plan also should better target youth crime and firearms in order to keep dysfunctional and criminal behavior from escalating. Along those lines Garcia has urged city departments, clergy, schools, businesses, community groups and other interveners to be more active in supplementing police enforcement efforts. Garcia also wants to double down on such focused deterrence strategies to change the life paths of high-risk and at-risk offenders, including those returning from prison sentences into Dallas neighborhoods. This part of the plan involves jobs, education and assistance with social issues, all of which take time, money and focus to curb criminal culture and violent behavior.
The city also should consider ways to require multifamily property owners to do more to prevent their complexes from becoming magnets for violent crime. In speaking to the press this week, Garcia said Thursday that roughly two-thirds of murders in 2023 occurred either inside a residence or at an apartment complex, suggesting that changes might reduce homicides.
This much is certain. More than 200 murders a year in Dallas must not become the new normal.
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com
FOX 4’s Clarice Tinsley celebrates the following members of the Class of 2026: Zavion Berry, Demi Glenn, Peyton Jankowski, Brynnah Stone, Bailee Swilling and Caroline Woahloe.
The Dallas Cowboys’ goal of having a bounce-back season in 2026 after missing out on the NFL playoffs for two consecutive years begins on Monday, June 1, with the start of organized team activities (OTAs).
OTAs are voluntary, so the whole squad will not be on the field when the team returns to The Star on Monday afternoon, but it’s our first look at the veteran players coming together with the impressive 2026 rookie class to begin preparations for the new year.
Dallas completely revamped its defense in the offseason after firing defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus and hiring Christian Parker away from the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, so there will be plenty of attention on the defensive rebuild.
One of the players who will have all eyes on them when OTAs kick off is first-round pick Caleb Downs, who made a positive impression during rookie minicamp. Downs impressed the Cowboys front office, coaching staff, and star players with his poise during his first camp as a rookie, and the hope is that he can develop into the defensive leader that Parker needs on the roster.
There will also be plenty of positional battles to watch, from determining who will start at EDGE, linebacker, and even a heated competition in the team’s loaded tight end room, so there is plenty for fans to look forward to as the team ramps up its offseason program.
When will the players be strapping up their helmets for OTAs and minicamp over the next few weeks?
A full look at the schedule for the Cowboys’ offseason program and preseason can be seen below.
2026 Cowboys Offseason Program: OTAs & Mandatory Minicamp Dates
OTAs
Session 1: Monday, June 1
Session 2: Tuesday, June 2
Session 3: Thursday, June 4
Session 4: Monday, June 8
Session 5: Tuesday, June 9
Session 6: Thursday, June 11
Mandatory Minicamp: Thursday, June 16 through Saturday, June 20
Training Camp: Dates TBD
Dallas Cowboys Preseason Schedule
Week 1 – Saturday, August 15, 8:00 p.m. ET: at Seattle Seahawks | Lumen Field | Seattle, Washington
Week 2 – Saturday, August 22, 9:00 p.m. ET: at Arizona Cardinals | State Farm Stadium | Phoenix, Arizona
Week 3, Friday, August 28, 7:00 p.m. ET: New Orleans Saints | AT&T Stadium | Arlington, Texas
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Free agency is just over a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. Even with the UFA crop being thinned out in recent months, there will be some quality veterans set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Stars.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Jason Robertson – Robertson is the domino that dictates everything else Dallas does this offseason. An elite top-line winger coming off a great year, he posted 45 goals and 96 points in 82 games this past season. Robertson leaned heavily on the power play, where 41 of his points were generated, and logged a career-high in ice time around 20:15 per game. The catch is the price tag. His next deal is projected to land among the league’s top winger comparables, with most reports pointing toward something near $12MM annually. Re-signing him is priority one, but fitting that number under the cap is the entire puzzle.
C Mavrik Bourque – After a quiet rookie year with 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in 73 games spent largely getting shuttled around the bottom six, Bourque roughly doubled his output to about 20 goals and 41 points in 82 games, finishing seventh on the team in scoring. The trend line is the selling point. He closed with nine goals and 19 points in 25 games while averaging 19 minutes a night after the Olympic break, the kind of usage-plus-production combination that suggests the role is finally catching up to the pedigree (Bourque was the 2024 AHL MVP and scoring champion). On an expiring $950K deal, he’s drawn mention as a realistic offer-sheet target, but a modest bridge contract is the likely outcome, and a strong value for a cap-strapped team.
Other RFAs: F Arttu Hyry, F Antonio Stranges, F Samu Tuomaala, F Matthew Seminoff, F Kyle McDonald, F Chase Wheatcroft, F Scott Harrison, D Vladislav Kolyachonok, D Jeremie Poirier, D Luke Krys, G Benjamin Kraws
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Jamie Benn – The Dallas captain of 13 years is no longer a focal point of the offense, though he remains a leadership presence that the Stars may be reluctant to move on from. The 36-year-old put up 15 goals and 36 points in 60 games, a respectable depth-scoring line for his age but a clear step down in volume, due in part to opening the season on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury. He’s been on a string of short, team-friendly deals, and his future remains unresolved; even a discounted contract would cut further into Dallas’s limited cap space. The angle here is sentiment and leadership weighed against a tight budget. AFP Analytics projects a one-year deal in the $1.3MM range, roughly the discount required for a reunion to make sense.
F Michael Bunting – A trade-deadline pickup whose Dallas tenure is a small sample. Acquired from Nashville in early March for a 2026 third-round pick, Bunting had posted 31 points (13 goals, 18 assists) in 61 games with the Predators before the deal, finishing the full season around 14 goals and 33 points in 74 games between the two stops. He’s a complementary middle-sixer who chips in power-play offense, roughly 10 of his points came on the man advantage, and a bit of grit, though his minus-24 rating is an eyesore. At 30, he’s the type of depth piece a cap-conscious team might let walk in favor of a cheaper option, making his return no sure thing. Notably, AFP Analytics is far more bullish, projecting a four-year deal near $5.8MM annually which, if accurate, would almost certainly price Dallas out and reframe him as a cap-casualty departure rather than a re-sign candidate.
F Nathan Bastian – A late-summer depth signing whose first year in Dallas was a quiet one. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound winger was brought in for size and physicality, he’d piled up 138 hits in 59 games with New Jersey the year before, but a limited role, a handful of healthy scratches, and a hand injury down the stretch held him to just three goals and three points in 24 games. His value was never about offense; he’s a heavy, penalty-killing fourth-liner (over 135 hits in four of his five full NHL seasons) who fits the Stars’ stated aim of getting bigger and harder to play against.
F Adam Erne – The feel-good depth case rather than a numbers case. Erne earned his first NHL contract in two years off a professional tryout out of training camp, the third straight year he’d attended a camp on a PTO, and turned it into five goals and six points across 39 games, a season interrupted by a lower-body injury that cost him about a month. He’s a forechecking, physical, bottom-six energy winger whose value is in hits and fourth-line minutes rather than scoring. For a team doing cap triage, he’s easy to bring back on another league-minimum deal or let walk without much consequence.
Other UFAs: D Alexander Petrovic, D Kyle Capobianco, F Kole Lind
Projected Cap Space
Dallas’s cap picture is a tight one. The NHL’s record $104MM ceiling for 2026-27 was expected to create flexibility across the league, but for the Stars the numbers remain cramped. Per PuckPedia, Dallas projects to enter the summer with roughly $10.1MM in functional cap space and 19 players already under contract, with nearly $94MM committed, leaving about $2.5MM per open roster spot. That’s a workable figure for depth pieces, right up until Jason Robertson enters the equation. A Robertson extension in the $12+MM range would swallow most of that room on its own, which is why the Stars spent last offseason shedding salary and why GM Jim Nill faces ugly triage this summer. Outside of re-signing Robertson and possibly squeezing in a discounted Benn return, Dallas is likely limited to league-minimum depth additions, and won’t want to lock itself into much term given the contracts still coming down the pipe.
Contract information courtesy of PuckPedia.
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