Teenage suspect in custody after shooting rampage at Dallas high school
A teen suspect was in custody and police were seeking a motive after four students were shot in a Dallas high school almost one year to the day after a shooting in the same school.
All four students were taken to nearby hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries after the rampage on April 15 at Wilmer-Hutchins High School, said Christina Smith, assistant chief of the Dallas Independent School District Police Department.
Hours after the shooting, a 17-year-old suspect turned himself in at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas and was booked into Dallas County jail at 9:32 p.m., online records show. The teen was being held on an aggravated assault mass shooting charge with a $600,000 bond, according to records.
Antong Lucky, head of the Urban Specialists community group that advocates against violence, told the Dallas Morning News a relative of the shooting suspect called the organization’s helpline asking for assistance at around 6 p.m., then brought the suspect to Lucky's office.
The suspect said he wanted to turn himself in and "deal with this," Lucky said, so he brought the teen to police.
"We believe in … convincing them to do the right thing," Lucky said.
Police responded to the shooting shortly after 1 p.m. local time. Officials did not explain how the shooter got the gun onto campus, which requires students to walk through metal detectors and carry only clear backpacks. However, Smith said the gun was brought in outside of regular intake hours.
"So it was not a failure of our staff, of our protocols, or of the machinery that we have," Smith said.
Reports: Suspect entered high school through unsecured door
According to an arrest affidavit, obtained by local television station WFAA and The New York Times, surveillance cameras showed that the suspect entered the school through an unsecured door that another student had opened.
After entering the school at around 1 p.m., the suspect walked into a hallway and saw a group of male students before showing a firearm, WFAA and The Times reported. The suspect then began shooting indiscriminately at the group.
The affidavit stated that five students were shot but that Dallas Fire-Rescue officials later clarified that four victims were injured from the shooting, while a fifth victim had anxiety-related symptoms from the incident, according to WFAA and CBS Texas.
A witness told FOX 4 News and NBC 5 Dallas–Fort Worth that he unknowingly helped the suspect after the teen flagged him down for a ride. Milton Nieto said he was driving near the school when a teen waved him down while he was crossing a railroad track.
At the time of their encounter, Nieto said he was unaware of the shooting, according to FOX 4 and NBC 5.
"I rolled my window down just to see what was happening, and he looked like he was in distress," Nieto told NBC 5.
The teen allegedly told Nieto that he had been in a "wreck" and needed help getting to his father, FOX 4 and NBC reported. Nieto said he decided to help the teen and dropped him off at a gas station before calling police to report the alleged car accident.
Student was shot at same school a year ago
On April 12, 2024, a student at the same high school was shot in leg inside a classroom. The shooter, a student, was able to get the gun into the school despite the metal detectors and bag-check protocols. After that shooting, many students complained they did not feel safe at school.
"This is just becoming way too familiar and should not be familiar," District Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said. "It's not enough (for students) to be safe. They also have to feel safe."
Tara Dobbin said her oldest son was at Wilmer-Hutchins during last year's shooting − and her youngest was there April 15. He had to jump from a classroom window after hearing gunfire, escaping to a nearby elementary school, she told KXAS-TV.
"This is going on too much at this school," Dobbin told the outlet. "Last year, my oldest son was a senior here, and there was a shooting. Now he’s here with same thing going on. It’s ridiculous."
Teacher directed suspect away from campus
Elizalde said a teacher in the classroom directed the suspect away from the school, preventing the situation from escalating.
"The teacher is a very humble individual, and he was able to direct the student away from the campus so that he could take care of, first, the injured students, and secondly, to ensure that the alleged suspect did not enter into the rest of the school building," Elizalde told reporters. "Much more (violence) was avoided because he was directed away from the school."