Deep Ellum sees series of violent robberies

DALLAS - Dallas police are trying to track down a group of robbers targeting people in Deep Ellum.

Police haven't said if all the robberies are related but do all have a very similar pattern.

Dallas police arrested two juveniles for a sexual assault that happened in the area in September but are still looking for the culprits behind a series of violent robberies in the area, where at least two more incidents have happened in recent weeks under similar circumstances.

Lindsay McEwan and her boyfriend were in Deep Ellum on Halloween night, getting a drink outside an Elm Street bar when a thief saw a bold opportunity in a crowd of people.

“Within maybe 10 minutes of us sitting there, someone snatched my wallet from underneath my arm,” she recalled.

Without missing a beat, McEwan's boyfriend, Zach Feinstein, took off after the man described as Hispanic with a short Mohawk and an accent and chased him down to the DART station on Good Latimer.

“I didn't think about it. I just went,” Feinstein said. “Got him to the ground, and he was like, ‘I don't have it. I threw it back there when I saw you chasing me.’” 

The guy got away, but the couple found the wallet nearby. Feinstein had only bumps and bruises.

That was not the case for another robbery victim days earlier on the same street. The woman was on the phone with her friend, Christopher Lewellyn, when it happened.

“She stepped about probably 10-15 steps away from her car and got hit in the back of the head,” Lewellyn said. “She screamed out my name. And then I heard her say, ‘Take it, take it, take it.’”

Lewellyn says two young men struck his friend to the ground and took her purse, phone and wallet.

Police responded to at least five aggravated robberies in that area in two months on Elm and Indiana streets. In each case, the robbers either pointed a gun or hit the victim and took cell phones and wallets. Police have not been able to make any arrests.

“My illusion of safety is kind of shattered,” said McEwan. “Now I'm like okay, this can happen to me. I have to be more careful.”

Police have not said if they believe the robberies are all related but do believe they're looking for three suspects in their teens.