Video reveals shocking amount of celebratory gunfire in Oak Cliff

DALLAS - An Oak Cliff mother used her cellphone to capture the sound of rapid gunfire outside her window on New Year’s Eve.

Even after warnings from police about celebratory gunfire, some longtime Oak Cliff homeowners said it was the worst year yet.

The woman who captured the video didn’t want to give her name or show her face on TV out of fear of retaliation. But she wanted to share the clip because she believes it’s only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or killed.

She said the gunfire lasted for hours and terrified her children.

“I thought it was never going to stop. It was like a war zone. It was just crazy. I could not believe it,” she said.

The video is only three minutes long but the Oak Cliff mom said the gunfire lasted from midnight until about 4 a.m. It sounded close at times.

“That’s sad to me that people do these things without any regard for human life, without even thinking about it. To them it’s fun, its happy celebration. Well, it’s not happy celebration to those of use that don’t do that and have children who are crying hovering in a corner not knowing what's going to happen next,” she said.

The mother said sadly, her family has become accustomed to the sound of random gunfire in their neighborhood throughout the year. But New Year’s Eve was especially rough.

“This bullet was lodged in my fence, right by my kids’ window,” she said.

Her husband ended up blocking the windows with furniture and her children hid in an interior hallway in case another stray bullet pierced their home.

“My 11-year-old came up to me after it was all over and just hugged me and I was like, ‘What’s wrong?’ She was like, ‘Mommy, I’m just happy that we didn’t get shot.’ And that’s when I was like okay now I’m mad. I’m really mad,” she said.

Dallas police said from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. they received 218 calls for fireworks disturbances and 933 calls about random gunfire. That number is slightly up from last year.

Police did not say how many of the calls came from Oak Cliff.

“I’m a gun owner myself. Living where I live, I want to protect myself. But we have common sense,” she said.

She said she understands the challenge for police trying to pinpoint where the shots are coming from. She just hopes people will hear her message and think twice next year.

“When you are doing that it’s going to come down and it’s going to kill somebody,” she said.