A Fort Worth security guard was shot and killed in the early hours of Mother’s Day outside an after-hours club on Miller Avenue, prompting three arrests including members of the same family and sparking a community protest demanding the venue be shut down.
Officers responded at approximately 5:45 a.m. Sunday to a shooting call in the 4500 block of Miller Avenue. Investigators found that the victim, identified as Dominique Coleman, was working as a security officer when he crossed the street and was involved in a confrontation with another person. A suspect shot Coleman multiple times. He was declared dead at the scene. A woman who was with the suspect was also shot and then pistol-whipped with the butt of the firearm before the shooter fled. She was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries to her shoulder.
Using vehicle information and law enforcement databases, detectives identified three people who had been involved in the confrontation with Coleman. Investigators executed a search warrant in Dallas County and arrested Dadrian Freeman, 21, charging him with murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His father, Dedrian Freeman Sr., 46, was arrested during the execution of the search warrant and charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. His older brother, Dedrian Freeman Jr., 22, was also taken into custody on an unrelated probation violation.
According to court documents, Dedrian Freeman Sr. was the person who initially produced the handgun, but Dadrian Freeman was the one who fired the shots and pistol-whipped the female victim.
Coleman’s friends and fellow community members remembered him as a dedicated and loyal presence. “He was so dedicated, he was solid. He was loyal. He was there,” said Marlo Jefferson, treasurer of the DFW Ryderz Car Club, which Coleman had been a part of for 12 years. “Whenever we called on him to do anything, he was there.” At the shooting scene, a fellow security guard placed a handheld radio on the ground in a flowerbed near where Coleman fell, as a tribute to the life lost.
Bishop Mark Kirkland, who knows Coleman’s family, said Coleman’s mother had already lost another son years earlier. “We want to know why,” said Jefferson.
Community members gathered Sunday evening outside Club New Start Bar N Restaurant, the after-hours business where Coleman had been working. Protesters called on city officials and local authorities to investigate the establishment and take immediate action to shut it down, citing ongoing safety concerns and allegations that management had failed to cooperate with investigators. Police confirmed they have been called to the location for shootings on prior occasions. “I’m tired of seeing mothers having to bury their children. And children having to bury their parents. Because of violence,” said neighbor T.J. Ragster.
“We’re not trying to shut a Black-owned business down,” said Cliff Sparks, vice president of the DFW Ryderz Car Club. “I’m protesting to get justice for my brother.”