City of Dallas sues concert promoter, property owner over fatal mass shooting

DALLAS - The city of Dallas announced it's filing a lawsuit related to this month's concert shooting that killed one person and injured more than a dozen others.

They are suing a church, which owned the property where the event was held, and the concert's promoter.

The city's lawsuit joins other legal action being taken.

As the city and lawyers for victims take legal action against the property owner and promoters, the DFW Trail Riders Association is having regular meetings with Dallas police to ensure their annual events are safe for the community. 

Weeks after a mass shooting at the Epic Easter Bike Out and Field Party in Southeast Oak Cliff, still no arrests have been made.  

Still no arrests made in Dallas concert shooting that left 16 injured, 1 dead

More than a dozen people were injured, and 26-year-old Kealon Gilmore was killed. 

Wednesday, the Dallas city attorney filed a lawsuit against the property owner, St. John Missionary Baptist Church and promoter Germaud Lyons, also known as Bossman Bubba. 

The concert and party drew thousands of people, and Dallas police say the event never should have happened because organizers did not a required permit.

Chris Mazzola is the lawyer for Jazmin Anderson, a woman who was shot at the event. 

"She has a life-altering head injury. She took a bullet to the brain," he said. "And she's going to have a long road in regard to rehabilitation."

A lawsuit similar to the city's had already been filed on behalf of one of the victims earlier this month.  

No permit issued ahead of Dallas concert shooting that left 1 dead, 16 injured

Wednesday, Mazolla added Anderson to that lawsuit demanding at least $1 million in damages. 

"If you know that you require a permit to host an event, you need to go through the proper protocol to obtain a proper permit and make sure that you have everything in place that is necessary to keep everybody safe," Mazolla said. "Because the injury to one person, that's more than enough."

Off-duty Dallas police officers were at the event earlier in the day working security, but they were gone when the shooting happened. 

Dallas city leaders are working with police to make penalties tougher for those who have these events without a permit. 

"We are forming a group of us in the community of the trail ride industry to make trail rides safer," said Wolfpack Riding Club CEO Dwayne Gray.  

Since the shooting, members from the Dallas Fort Worth Trail Riders Association have been meeting with Dallas police to ensure their events are safe. They allowed the media inside for their meeting Wednesday. 

Trail ride groups say one of the organizers for the field party is associated with a trail ride group but say this was not a trail ride event. 

"It wasn’t necessarily a trail ride that this event happened at. It was at what is called a field party, and it was done by an organization outside of this association of trail riders," explained Paul Franklin, CEO of New Era Booking and Management Firm. "Being able to distinguish the difference between the two, we are going to be very intentional about that."

Anderson is still having procedures as she recovers. 

Mazolla says his client is strong and will continue to fight until people are held accountable. 

"You're also seeing extreme perseverance, dedication and resiliency from Jazz because she had a bullet shattered her skull and there's fragments permanently at her brain. And she's not letting this stop," he said. "She's determined to overcome this, and that's why I applaud her because she's stronger than me."