“It’s heartbreaking to see what his mother is going to have to see her son lying on the ground on Mother’s Day,” Car Club VP Cliff Sparks said.
FORT WORTH, Texas — When Ryderz Car Club member Dale McKnight fires up his classic car, memories of fellow club member Dominique Coleman come rushing back. They showed off their vehicles together at many of the same car shows for as long as McKnight had his classic car.
“It’s a 1986 Chevy Caprice, I’ve owned it for 10 years,” Dale McKnight said.
But this Mother’s Day weekend, the sound of the engine carries a painful reminder. Coleman will no longer attend future Ryderz events. McKnight is thankful for the last time they crossed paths.
“I’ve known him for so long. I just saw him a couple of weeks ago. I heard about this when I woke up Sunday morning,” McKnight said.
Coleman was shot and killed while working a part-time security shift at Club New Start on Miller Avenue in Fort Worth. Police said officers responded to reports of gunfire across the street from the club, where they found Coleman and a second victim who survived the attack.
According to court documents, the surviving victim told investigators a man shot Coleman multiple times before turning the gun on her. The affidavit states the suspect then pistol-whipped her with the butt of the firearm before fleeing the area.
“She sustained non-life-threatening injuries to her shoulder, and she was taken to the hospital,” Fort Worth Police Spokesperson Tracy Carter said. “He (the suspect) was in the car with a couple of people. And again, thanks to the witnesses and cameras that we have, we may apprehend them.”
Fort Worth homicide detectives later obtained an arrest warrant for 21-year-old Dedrian Freeman, who is now charged with murder in the case. Officers also arrested his father, Dadrian Freeman, Sr., 46, for possession of a firearm by a felon, and his 22-year-old brother, Dadrian Freeman, Jr., on an unrelated probation violation.
“Our homicide investigators are going to continue to talk to people. If people have information, we’re asking them to call us, so we can get the exact details of what happened here,” Carter said. “This is a community that I grew up in, not far from here. But it’s just that we’re seeing people lose their lives to senseless gun violence. As I always keep saying, we have to learn emotional intelligence. We should be able to just talk to each other and teach our kids that this is not a way to handle anything.”
Those same words are echoed by Coleman’s friends.
“It’s unbelievable. I am at a loss for words, like, for the whole situation,” McKnight said.
“It hurts inside,” Ryderz Car Club President Cliff Sparks said.
Sparks said the car club is now focused on honoring Coleman’s memory. After consulting with the family, he hit social media with an organized event he hopes will result in a huge turnout and help turn people away from using guns to solve their differences.
“It’s heartbreaking to see what his mother is going to have to see her son lying on the ground on Mother’s Day,” Cliff Sparks said.
At the shooting scene, a fellow security guard placed a handheld radio on the ground in a flowerbed near the shooting scene in Coleman’s memory, serving as another reminder of the life lost too soon.