Police found a dead 17-year-old boy inside of a truck yesterday afternoon, adding to the recent spike in crime in the Dallas area. Officers say that the police were responding to a shooting at Cedar Lake Drive at around 5 p.m. Upon arriving at the scene, the police found the body of a teenage boy with a gunshot wound. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene. The body was found inside of a pickup truck; he had no identification on him at the time. However, a family member identified the body as 17-year-old Valdemar Esquivel. The victim’s brother says that Valdemar was out with friends at the time of the shooting and lived in the area. The police are investigating the death as a homicide, however, they have no suspects at this time. The investigation continues in the search for suspects.
This comes at a time of a recent increase in criminal activity in Dallas. Ironically, around the same time of the shooting, the Dallas Police Department made a post on Facebook, boasting that the city had gone 12 consecutive days without a murder. The police department took to the internet to remark on their “appreciation” to the faith leaders and citizenry who “came together to express their dissatisfaction and call to an end the violence occurring in our city”. It seems that the police department celebrated too soon.
According to recent statistics, the death of Valdemar Esquivel marks the 98th murder in Dallas this year.
