Around 2 o'clock this morning Charles Pace, a 74-year-old grandfather, went to Denny's on North Central Expressway to grab a bite to eat. Though just a few blocks from his apartment complex, he never made it inside. Before he could reach the door, he told police, he was jumped, set upon for no apparent reason by an unknown number of attackers.

Carter wasn't seriously injured. Officers found him lying in the Denny's parking lot with cuts to his face and hands, but he was well enough to be driven home without medical treatment. That's in contrast to Luis Rocha, another septuagenarian who was recently the target of a random attack outside Campisi's on Mockingbird Lane, a mile-and-a-half north of the Denny's. Almost two weeks later, Rocha remains in the hospital.

Police don't mention the Campisi's attack in their report, but the officers who talked to Carter wrote in their report that they believe he's the victim of the "latest 'Knockout Game.'"

See also: Dallas Grandfather Recovering After Brutal Attack Outside Campisi's

The Knockout Game is, for the record, an actual thing. Whether it's common enough to be classified as a "trend," whether that trend is growing and whether there is a black-on-white racial element -- claims that have been advanced by conservative media outlets -- are trickier questions to answer, but the lack of evidence for those theories suggests they're specious at best.

Dallas PD spokeswoman Melinda Gutierrez says she is aware of no previous reports suggesting the Knockout Game is being played in Dallas.

"This is a first," she said.

Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.