Police: Latest Oak Lawn attack may have been a hate crime

DALLAS - An LGBT organization says attacks in the Oak Lawn are of Dallas have gone from concerning to an outright crisis after 18 attacks in the area in nine months.

Cece Cox of the Dallas Resource Center in says fear and frustration have taken over in light of the latest attack in Oak Lawn early Thursday morning.

The confidence from the LGBT community is just about zero,” explained Cox. “To have zero arrests, that I’m aware of, and zero legitimate action taken one these crime incidents where people are being brutally injured is really disturbing and raises a lot of questions about DPD paying attention.”

Police say a man was beaten in the 5000 block of Bowser Avenue around 2 a.m. as he was walking home from a bar.

The victim said someone jumped out of a red car that pulled alongside him and punched him in the face. The suspect then jumped back in the car and took off.

Dallas police are concerned that it may have been a hate crime. The suspect didn’t say anything and didn’t take anything.

Michael Dominguez, one of the earlier victims in the Oak Lawn attacks, said in a statement, “The attack has all of us concerned. We’re entering the 9th month of fear and unease and it seems we’re not closer to finding anyone responsible.”

After the first round of attacks, police stepped up patrols and installed surveillance cameras in high traffic areas.

Cox says she knows of at least five attacks that were never reported out of fear.

The Dallas Police Department declined to give an interview about the latest attack.

Anyone with information on the attacked is asked to contact the Dallas Police Department.