Church faces lawsuit over Round Rock Juneteenth shooting

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — The church that organized the Round Rock Juneteenth festival in 2024 is facing a civil lawsuit following the mass shooting that occurred at the event.

Two people died and 14 were hurt in the gunfire at the Juneteenth event on June 15 last year at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. Police found two dozen shell casings near the vendor area, fired by four separate guns, according to an arrest affidavit.

Terrell Hatch, 18; Payton Green, 20; Terren Jackson, 18; and Amarjai Terry, 17, were arrested in May related to the case. They face charges of engaging in criminal activity with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, a first-degree felony. Police had previously arrested Ricky Thompson III, Keshawn Dixon and a juvenile, who was not identified.

The civil lawsuit alleges that One Way Baptist Church and their “agents, servants, and employees negligently allowed the area to become dangerous.”

The lawsuit also lists Dixon and Thompson as defendants in this case for “negligently creat[ing] an unreasonably dangerous environment.”

Two victims in the case are seeking over $1,000,000 in monetary relief in this civil case. One of the victims was “shot in the shoulder” when the shooting occurred. The lawsuit says that the other victim “suffered and continues to suffer from psychological trauma from the incident.”

In a statement to KXAN, the victim’s attorney said:

For more than a year, we have made repeated efforts to engage in a productive dialogue with the insurance carrier covering the Juneteenth celebration hosted by One Way Baptist Church & The Voice. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful.

Each of my clients sincerely hoped to resolve this matter without resorting to litigation. However, the insurance company has made clear that it refuses to accept any responsibility for the shocking lack of security at what was publicly advertised as a safe, family-friendly community event.

My clients were victims of a mass shooting while simply trying to enjoy a holiday celebration with their families. I look forward to presenting their cases to a Travis County jury and pursuing the justice they deserve.

Cory Clements, Attorney for victims

KXAN reached out multiple times to One Way Baptist Church for an interview or comment on this story and have received no response yet. We will update this story if a response is given.

Cluren Williams was present at the Round Rock Juneteenth festival in 2024. Williams says when the shooting happened, it was “chaos.”

“I don’t believe that they ever thought they would need top notch security for this type of festival,” Williams said. “I think they spent so many years of not having any violence that they let their guard down.”

Williams also said that he didn’t think that the church was solely responsible for what happened at the festival, as the city also helped put the event together.

KXAN reached out to the city of Round Rock regarding this lawsuit, and they said they do not have any comment at this time.

But prior to the [shooting], Juneteenth was special, it was beautiful, it had spent 15 years—consecutive years being beautiful at Old Settlers Park,” Williams said. “I really hate this happened, but I am going to say that it was so chaotic. It was so crazy and so fearful, so traumatizing. So many people lost their lives, and we’re still mourning to this day.”