A closer look at the 40 murders in Dallas in May 2019

DALLAS - After 40 murders last month in Dallas, FOX 4's Shaun Rabb has a look at the crime numbers to show where these murders are happening and who is killing who.

When you look at what happened in May, and look at the homicide rate in the months before, even with other crimes on the rise, it may have been hard to project these numbers.

There are moments when the violence becomes too much, especially when the innocent are robbed of life, like 13-year-old Malik Tyler. And the young are forced into roles beyond their years

“I seen Malik fall and he was shot, so [I] stayed right there with him,” one of Tyler’s friends, King Morgan, said.

Families left with memories and misery. The tide of murders taking a toll in Dallas communities.

The majority of murders are happening in southwest, south central, southeast, and northeast Dallas.

“We recognize that the city of Dallas has seen an uptick in violence,” said Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall.

In the first four months of this year, Dallas had a total of 53 murders, an average of about 13 each month.

Then came May, when a staggering 40 people were killed.

Some of the standing room only crowd at Thursday night’s town hall meeting, though, were not putting it all on police.

“This is on us, not the police,” said attorney Calvin Johnson.

Johnson, a South Dallas native, was passionate in his comments.

“It’s our community. We have to raise our kids better. We have to set better standards in our community,” he said.

There were 93 murders through the end of May, with 59 of the victims being African American, and 60 of the 105 suspects also being African American.

“This 'no snitch' rule in the community has to stop,” said Minister Ernest Walker.

Walker also attended Thursday’s town hall.

“If we want to believe that black lives matter. We got to believe it if we want to tell other people. So, the 'no snitch' rule, if there's something in my community, if there’s a cancer in my community, I want it out,” Walker said. “We need to get it out of there, because petty crimes become larger crimes, and larger crimes lead to murder.”

Walker is hoping for divine intervention to stem the tide of murders taking a toll in Dallas communities.

“We're asking for a ceasefire to start at sunset [Friday]. We're asking for all the faith based community to pray and fast for not another murder to happen this weekend,” Walker added.

Last year, Dallas recorded only 15 murders during May. Compared to this year’s 40 murders in May.

An anomaly? Or more of a warning that the cyclical nature of crime, including homicides, is cycling up again?