An 18-year-old student was killed and another student arrested after a shooting Wednesday afternoon at Bowie High School in Arlington.
Arlington Police Chief Al Jones and Arlington Independent School District Superintendent Matt Smith held a news conference Wednesday night to provide an update on the shooting, which has been confirmed as a homicide.
According to authorities, officers responded to the high school shortly before 3 p.m. after reports of shots fired near a portable building on campus. School resource officers said when they arrived at the scene, they found the 18-year-old lying on the ground.
First responders said he had been shot up to six times and was unresponsive.
As a result of the shooting, the campus was forced into lockdown. Video obtained by NBC Dallas-Fort Worth shows police officers performing CPR on a man on the ground outside the school.
The victim, whose name has not been released, was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
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Arlington police said officers helped secure the campus area and began searching for the suspect, 17, who was eventually found nearby.
He was taken into custody without incident sometime around 5:30 p.m. and booked into the Arlington City Jail on a charge of murder, police said. His name has not been released.
Homicide detectives believe the suspect and victim knew each other and are still working to determine the motive behind the deadly incident. Investigators are also working to determine what type of gun was used in the shooting, where the suspect got it and if the weapon was ever brought into school buildings.
“We as a community cannot tolerate this kind of violence. Not in our neighborhoods and not in our schools. Violence is never the right answer. We will continue to work in step with our partners in Arlington ISD to ensure our schools are safe places for students to learn,” Jones said in a released statement.
“I don’t know how we’re going to go on from here”
Erica Sims, whose son and daughter attend the school, said her son left campus before noon and that her daughter was still in the building when the shooting happened. She said she first went to the school and then walked around the neighborhood before being redirected to a reunification center.
“My daughter called me, she told me there was a shooting at school. I panicked, of course. I’ve been trying to find my child and I still haven’t been able to get her,” Sims said. “My daughter knows the kid who got shot. My daughter knows the kid who shot.
She added: “It’s a lot. I don’t feel safe. I don’t know how we go on from this point. I’ve never been involved in anything like this and I just want my child.’
Other worried parents outside the neighborhood aquatic center said all they could do was wait for their children to be bussed out of school.
“When I get a message like this … and I can’t get into the school … I’m a vet, I want to go out there and make sure everyone’s free, but they’ve tied our hands with what we can do,” said parent Terry Brown. “It’s a terrible thing. My heart goes out to the family of this young man.”
A tearful Desiree Mondy said her son, who is a junior at the school, texted her that students heard multiple gunshots and screams outside the building.
“Our children are not safe,” Mondy said. “He’s afraid, even though it’s routine, he’s afraid. But he knows what to do because it’s common practice and it’s a problem. His text was, “Oh mom, we’re closed,” because that’s what they do all the time. It wasn’t until a friend texted him confirming that there had been gunshots and screams that I knew he was terrified.
Andrew Oliveros, a former student of Bowie’s, said his sister was inside the building when the shooting happened, but luckily she was away from the gunfire.
“It’s sad. It’s sickening because it’s preventable. It’s avoidable,” Oliveros said. “I feel like not enough has been done or said to prevent things like this. I went to this high school all four years and this is not the first time this has happened.’
Demitri McGarry said his younger sister was at school when the shooting happened and that she was OK. He said he hasn’t talked to his sister about the possibility of a school shooting, but he doesn’t think there’s much you can do to prepare.
“No one can be prepared for situations like this. There’s really nothing you can do except make sure they know how to handle it at this point. Not to panic, to maintain composure. Make sure you can think straight,” McGarry said.
When asked how he would feel seeing his sister after the shooting, McGarry said because he knows she’s OK, it would probably be like most other days.
“I know she’s fine, so I guess it’ll be like taking her, you know? ‘Something happened at school today.’ It’s a little crazy, but unfortunately it happens a lot in this world,” McGarry said.
Classes are canceled on Thursday
The district announced that classes at Bowie High School will be canceled Thursday. When students return to school, they will have the full support of the district’s counseling team for as long as necessary, according to the district.
The superintendent said the district also plans to conduct a review of campus safety measures in the coming days.
“Anytime you have a school tragedy, we would always do something like this,” Smith said. “Right now we’re just gathering information with the police department and supporting them in their investigation.”
Some parents who gathered outside the school during the lockdown expressed concern that they were first notified by their students in the classroom, not the district.
The superintendent said the district will conduct a review of the communication process used to alert families about the lockdown.
“We know that with students with cell phones and social media, word from students spreads extremely quickly,” Smith said. “As soon as we got the right information, we shared it with our families.”
