Fort Worth is targeting growth in illegal gunfire with arrests and an outreach program aimed at parents and youth that stresses the criminal consequences.
Arrests grew 28.5% in 2025, according to the city. Police Chief Eddie García told council members Tuesday the problem is citywide. He noted hot spots in Fort Worth City Council Districts 5, 8, 9 and 11.
García stressed that many people who fire guns indiscriminately believe they’re doing it for fun, but the city and police don’t agree.
“Pull the trigger, pay the price” is a tagline in a campaign that will run from May through January, across events such as the World Cup and the Fourth of July.
“We don’t see illegal gunfire as a celebratory or some fun experience,” García told the Report. “We look at it as a potential violent crime.”
The city didn’t immediately have statistics on the numbers of reported illegal gunfire annually, how many incidents turn into ones with a reported injury or damage to property, or total arrests.
Stray bullet incidents often spike around July 4, New Year’s Day and major sporting events, according to the city.
The campaign stresses that illegal discharge of a weapon in Texas is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
García attributed part of the increase in the numbers of arrests to successful community outreach. He acknowledged some residents are frustrated about police response to reported gunfire.
“This isn’t a Fort Worth issue — this is an issue that happens in a lot of major cities here in Texas,” García said. “The positive part for our community messaging is that when they are calling it in, officers are doing everything they can to make an arrest.”
The city’s campaign will start later this spring with coordinated advertising on social media, newspapers and signage. To spread the message, the campaign will also use Facebook geo-targeting, bus shelters, stickers and door hangers.
YouTube and Spotify will be the primary vehicles used to reach young people, Sana Syed, the city’s chief communications officer, told council members. The city projects 700,000 YouTube impressions per month and 10,000 on Spotify.
The May-January campaign has a $96,860 budget, including a $20,000 chunk coming from the city’s Crime Control and Prevention District.
Parent and student outreach will be aimed at mentoring organizations such as the YMCA, libraries, and school districts including student leadership, parent groups as well as after-school and summer programs.
The key messaging for parents will be built around safe gun and bullet storage, and consequences for parents if a minor uses their firearm.
“We want to reassure residents that the city … will not tolerate illegal gun violence,” García told council members.
City Council members wanted a campaign to address what’s perceived as a growing problem in neighborhoods.
“This has been a problem that’s becoming a bigger problem, and the data that police pulled out supported that,” Syed told the Report.
While Fort Worth ISD is a major focus, several council members asked whether the campaign’s messaging could be extended to reach other school districts that serve the city, including Crowley, Keller and Castleberry.
Council members asked García and other city staff to put their relationships with their neighborhoods to use.
“If you put flyers in their hands, they’ll be happy to walk them,” said council member Deborah Peoples, whose southeast Fort Worth District 5 was identified as a hot spot of illegal gunfire.
Council member Charles Lauersdorf asked García what the messaging would be about response times.
“We treat it as a high-priority call,” García said. “We’re going to get there as fast as we can, given the resources that are available at the time.”
Scott Nishimura is senior editor for local governmental accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
