It was an especially bloody weekend in Fort Worth.

In the span of four days, three men and two women lay dead, the victims of a stabbing and three shootings, one of which also wounded five people.

The latest homicides follow a 69 percent jump in the city’s rate of murder and manslaughter from January to March, compared with the same period in 2016.

And that’s with summer — and its usual uptick in violent crime — still a week away.

“We got a long, hot summer, and long, hot summers are going to be difficult for you," City Council member Jungus Jordan said at a briefing Tuesday where police shared the statistics.

A shooting occurred here at E Davis and New York. Multiple victims. Two fatalities. pic.twitter.com/Y2QtxouCdr — Fort Worth Police (@fortworthpd) June 10, 2017

Gang warfare gets much of the blame for the rise in violent crime, just as it has in Dallas, where over 100 drive-by shootings have plagued the city this year.

Social-media feuds fan the flames in Dallas, and the same could be true to the west, though police in Fort Worth could not confirm that Wednesday.

In an effort to combat the problem, Fort Worth police created a violent-crimes task force to ramp up patrols in high-crime neighborhoods.

In just a month, the task force identified almost 100 gang member suspects. Now that plan is on hold as police re-examine its effectiveness.

"We're evaluating what we've done,” Assistant Chief Ken Dean said at Tuesday’s briefing. “We're looking at the next steps and taking the good and the bad.”

2 shootings and a stabbing

There was more bad than good last weekend, starting with a mass shooting late Friday.

Just after 11 p.m., police were called to a neighborhood south of downtown and found Shemeka Rodriguez, 32, and Ramsez Hall, 30, fatally wounded. Five other victims were hospitalized.

Rodriguez's mother, community organizer Melinda Hamilton, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that her daughter was shot after making a wrong turn.

"We need to stop this violence," Hamilton said. "It's the gun laws. These kids did not have any little guns, they had automatic weapons."

Ethel Love, a longtime south-side resident, said violence is nothing new for the area, but she’s “tired of it.”

"I've been staying on Davis Street since 1972 and several people have passed away,” said Love, whose mother’s home came under fire once. "This is not what life is about.”

No arrests have been reported in the Davis Street shooting, but police suspect it was gang-related.

“This weekend was a busy weekend, as everybody knows, and some of these issues do involve specific gangs," Dean said.

1 / 3Police and paramedics respond to the shooting on Davis Street in South Fort Worth.(Photos by Metro Video Services) 2 / 3 3 / 3

Police have identified suspects in two homicides the following night, neither of which was gang-related.

Francisco Antonio Vasquez Jr., 24, faces a murder charge in the slaying of 19-year-old Rodrigo Aguirre.

Vasquez was identified as a suspect soon after Aguirre was found stabbed to death about 9:30 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Saint Juliet Street. No motive was released.

Francisco Antonio Vasquez Jr. (Mansfield Jail)

He was arrested on a parole violation Monday afternoon at a Fort Worth home, according to the Star-Telegram.

At about the same time Saturday, Germain Rodriguez was shot to death while trying to break up a fight at a neighbor’s home.

Oscar de la Cruz Jr., 30, faces a murder charge in the death of the 36-year-old father.

Rodriguez's sister-in-law Jannet Enriquez, told KXAS-TV (NBC5) that Rodriguez was mowing the lawn when he heard an argument next door.

"He was just trying to be a good person and go next door to stop the fight," Enriquez said. "He just tried to make peace with everybody."

Oscar De La Cruz Jr. (Fort Worth police)

The suspect’s father mourned the death of his neighbor when he spoke to NBC5.

"He was a good friend. Better than my son, much better," Oscar de la Cruz Sr. said. "Good people go, and bad people stay. Why?"

5th homicide in 4 days

Fort Worth’s latest homicide was reported Monday, when a woman was found shot to death in her duplex, the front door wide open.

Angela Gagne, 41, was found shot multiple times in a bedroom at a home on Woodbeach Drive, near Altamesa Boulevard and McCart Avenue.

No arrests have been made, and police have not released a motive.

Another council member at Tuesday’s crime briefing urged Fort Worth residents to be vigilant as the summer begins.

"We need the citizens to be just as engaged and involved as police," Kelly Allen Gray said.

Breaking News producer Liz Farmer and reporter Naheed Rajwani contributed to this report.