Another shooting at Dallas high school riddled with violence

A 17-year-old student is in custody after shooting four people at a Dallas high school Tuesday, the second shooting at the school in one year.

No one died in the incident at Wilmer-Hutchins High School, which took place shortly after 1 p.m., officials said. An unidentified student reportedly let suspect Tracy Haynes Jr. into the building, where he indiscriminately shot five people, including one at point-blank range. Victims were taken to local hospitals for treatment, local media reported.

The inner-city school, which requires students to pass through metal detectors and use clear backpacks, canceled classes for the rest of the week.

Almost exactly one year earlier, on April 12, 2024, a student was shot in a classroom in an attack stemming from a dispute, CBS News reported. The incident prompted a walkout by students to protest a failure in campus security staff, who heard the metal detector go off but did not do a proper bag check, the school district police chief said. Staff were then retrained on metal detectors and bag checks. 

Parent Tara Dobbin told KXAS-TV her oldest son was at the school during last year’s shooting and that her youngest jumped from a classroom window and ran to a nearby elementary school after hearing Tuesday’s gunfire. 

“This is going on too much at this school,” Dobbin said. “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.” 

School district police said the shooting “was not a failure of our staff, of our protocols, or of the machinery that we have,” since the gun was brought in outside of normal intake hours. 

District Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said a teacher convinced Haynes to leave the building rather than continue his rampage, likely saving students from death or injury. 

“The unthinkable has happened and quite frankly, this is just becoming way too familiar, and it should not be familiar,” Elizalde said. 

Haynes turned himself into police later that night and is being held on $600,000 bond. He is charged with “aggravated assault mass shooting,” a charge passed by lawmakers following the deadly Uvalde shooting in 2022. 

In comments about the violence, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, inadvertently made the case for school choice, something the Texas House is currently debating. 

“Let me be clear: this is not normal. This is not acceptable,” she said, according to WFAA. “Guns do not belong in our schools. Every student deserves to learn in a safe environment.” 

School choice advocates have long argued that parents should be able to choose the school and environment that fits their child’s needs.  

Those choices are available to wealthy families that can afford to live in nicer school districts or pay for private school but are often unavailable to students in schools like Wilmer-Hutchins, where 99% of students are minority and 73% are considered economically disadvantaged. 

If approved, Texas would establish education savings accounts (ESA) that would grant $10,000 scholarships to eligible students. Priority would be given to low-income and special needs students, with the $1 billion program building toward universal eligibility. 

Debate is underway, and the legislature could vote as soon as today on the proposal.