Victim pursues attacker, gets the license plate; assailant gets away with nothing

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
A couple walking from S4 on Cedar Springs Road to Grapevine Bar on Maple Avenue early Saturday morning, March 31, were attacked by a man with a gun. A similar attack earlier in March may have been committed by the same man, police say, but this time one of the victims ran the attacker down and got his license plate number.
Zohar Wolf said he and his husband were holding hands as they walked toward Maple Avenue at about 12:30 a.m. that Saturday. Wolf told Stephen Cardenas he didn’t feel safe walking there because of previous attacks in the neighborhood. But Cardenas told his husband it would be OK.
“All of a sudden, somebody jumped from the left side of us shouting, ‘Fuck you! Fuck you! Give me your money!’” Wolf said.
“He grabbed Zohar around the neck and pointed a gun at me,” Cardenas added.
Cardenas had researched what to do if attacked on the street. He said that he had read to throw his cell phone under a parked car to make it difficult for the robber to get. Wolf threw his phone, but it landed on the sidewalk. The attacker picked it up along with his wallet containing credit cards and identification.
Cardenas said he kept his eye focused on the gun, which he said he thinks was an LG Ruger.
“My immediate reaction was to get the gun from being pointed at me,” Cardenas said.
He grabbed his arm and pointed his arm away from him. The man shot down into the ground.
“I shouted, ‘Take it all,’” Cardenas said.
After he picked up Wolf’s phone and wallet, the man ran down Reagan Street toward Dickason Avenue and ducked into an alley behind an apartment complex. Cardenas asked Wolf if he was OK. Wolf said he was, and Cardenas took off in pursuit.
While chasing the robber, Cardenas called 911, and the dispatcher told him not to follow the attacker. Cardenas told the operator that since police weren’t there, someone had to chase the attacker.
“All she kept telling me was not to chase him,” Cardenas said.
But he continued down the alley and saw the attacker jump into a pickup. He got close enough to read the operator the license plate number.
The attacker saw Cardenas chasing him and talking on the phone. He started the engine and put the pickup in reverse to run Cardenas over, but Cardenas jumped behind a telephone pole so the attacker couldn’t hit him without slamming his car into the pole. The attacker put the pickup in drive and sped off down the alley.
From his phone, Cardenas put Wolf’s phone into lost mode, and he could tell it was still in the area. Wolf had been shouting for help.
Someone came out of one of the apartments and helped them find his wallet and phone down the alley.
When the police arrived, they took fingerprints off the phone screen and credit cards.
The assailant got away with nothing, and, Wolf realized after the attack, he actually had cash in his other pocket.
On March 8, there was a similar attack. Police aren’t able to say they’re related yet but are investigating all leads and evidence to see if they are, according to Dallas Police Liaison Amber Roman.
According to the police report, at 1:30 a.m. on March 8, the victim and his friend were walking back to their car from one of the bars on
Cedar Springs Road. The attacker approached him, pointed a gun and demanded his property.
“The suspect then pointed the weapon at the ground and fired once,” the victim said in the police report, identical to what happened to Wolf and Cardenas.
There was a struggle, the victim’s friend began to help and the attacker fled.
About 30 minutes earlier, there had been an attack in the 4200 block of Maple Avenue near the bars Marty’s Live and Liquid Zoo.
Crimestoppers offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, but those crimes went unsolved.
Roman said police are checking the license plate and who the car is registered to, but that’s not definitive evidence because the car or the plate could be stolen.
Roman’s advice to the community echoed that of the 911 operator: Pursuing an armed attacker is not a good idea.
When Cardenas ducked behind the telephone pole, he wasn’t necessarily safe, she said. The assailant could have reached out of the car or stepped out of the car and shot him.
“When the aggressor feels like they’re being attacked, anything can happen,” Roman said.
She said even though the attacker shot toward the ground, any of them could have been hit by shrapnel or the bullet could have ricocheted.
“The most important thing is, don’t jeopardize your own safety,” she said.
She also repeated a number of suggestions that circulated around the neighborhood two years ago when the LGBT community felt it was under siege after a series of attacks on people walking from the bars on Cedar Springs Road to their cars or walking home. The recent attacks are not related to those, Roman said.
Roman suggested walking in pairs. “Be cognizant of the area,” she said.
She said Cardenas and Wolf were walking from Cedar Springs Road to Maple Avenue. During the day, it’s a short walk through a neighborhood of apartments and houses. At night, however, when there’s no activity on the street, it’s safer to drive between the two areas.