Deadly Shooting In Denton Caps a Bad Year For Fry Street

Early Tuesday morning’s fatal shooting at the Library Bar in the heart of Fry Street marks the end of a violent 2016 for the street, where locals and University of North Texas students could enjoy some drinks or a night out.

Denton police haven’t released many details about early Tuesday morning’s shooting. A local Denton man was shot and killed after a fight erupted between his group of two men and another group of three men. One of the three men pulled out a handgun and shot the victim in the head.  He was later pronounced dead at the scene. Police did not name the victim or the suspect.

The deadly Fry Street shooting is just one of several stories from the neighborhood of the University of North Texas to grab headlines in 2016.

The first crime story to gain attention involved Ryan McMillan, a 21-year-old University of North Texas student who was shot and killed by campus police in late December 2015 after he was caught destroying a few cars. He was holding what appeared to be a tomahawk but what police later called a “Boy Scout hatchet.” In the police car dash cam video, McMillan can be seen advancing on campus police with his hatchet in hand and saying, “Just shoot me.” Campus police officer Stephen Bean shot him four times.

The second story involved Texas Woman’s University student Jacqueline Vandagriff who met Charles Bryant, a bald hipster with cool tattoos and a physique, at the Public House, a bar not far from the Library Bar where the man who may have been black was shot and killed. They had a few drinks, visited another bar and disappeared into the night. Vandagriff’s body was found the next morning in blue kiddie pool near Grapevine Lake.