Multiple law enforcement agencies responded Tuesday afternoon to a “shooting incident” at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in southeast Oak Cliff. Officials were set to hold a news conference around 4 p.m. to provide a live update. (Scroll down the page to see the live video player.)
What happened?
Officers were dispatched about 1 p.m. to the school in the 5500 block of Langdon Road in southern Dallas County. A police call log showed 19 units at the scene.
Live video from the scene showed law enforcement officers from Dallas ISD, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, DART officers and the Texas Department of Public Safety also responded to the campus. There was also at least one ambulance from Dallas Fire-Rescue at the scene.
Dallas ISD officials confirmed on X that there was a “shooting incident” at the school.
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Multiple students told The Dallas Morning News they heard gunshots before hiding in their classrooms and contacting family.
Who was injured?
It was not immediately clear who, if anyone was injured as law enforcement officials have not confirmed any reports.
Where can parents go to collect their students?
Parents and relatives were told they could reunite with students at nearby Eagle Stadium at 5520 Langdon Road. Dallas ISD asked in a post on X for family members to bring a photo ID.
As of 5 p.m., district administrators said all parents had been successfully reunited with their children.
Is school canceled tomorrow?
DISD Superintendent Stephanie S. Elizalde announced during a news conference that the school will be closed for the rest of the week as a result of the shooting.
DISD has a previously scheduled districtwide closure this Friday and next Monday.
A home baseball game against Roosevelt scheduled for Tuesday afternoon has been postponed, a Dallas ISD spokesman said. It was possible the game would be rescheduled as soon as Wednesday.
Related:Wilmer-Hutchins postpones baseball game after shooting at high school
Was there a shooting at Wilmer-Hutchins last year, too?
Almost exactly one year ago, a student brought a gun to the Wilmer-Hutchins campus and shot another in the leg.
The Monday after the incident, which occurred in a classroom, students staged a walk out and said they did not feel safe at school. Multiple students said at the time that the school’s metal detectors are not regularly used and the school does not consistently enforce its clear bag policies, both points of frustration.
Dallas schools police chief Albert Martinez later said the district’s policies were not strictly followed.
“In this instance, yes, the metal detector went off, and there wasn’t a challenge. There weren’t the secondary steps that should have happened. And that’s our concern,” Martinez said at the time.
Dallas ISD leaders also said they would increase personnel during arrival and dismissal, retrain staff on backpack searches and metal detectors, as well as revamp schedules to make more people available to monitor students.
How are people reacting?
Some parents and community members are pointing to the shooting from last year, expressing concern that another shooting happened on campus.
Lashunda Edwards, the mother of a senior at the school, said her first thought was “not again,” when she found out from a friend on Tuesday.
She said she dropped everything and left work immediately to get to the school.
“I just want my child to be safe,” she said. “Anybody’s kid, really.”
