At least 4 students wounded in shooting at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas

The latest: Judge denies bond reduction request for teen arrested in Wilmer-Hutchins shooting

The suspect wanted in connection with a shooting at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas was in custody Tuesday night.

Tracy Haynes, 17, was booked into Dallas County Jail at 9:32 p.m. and is facing a charge of aggravated assault mass shooting. The arrest came after four students were injured in a school shooting Tuesday afternoon, about a year to the day when gunfire erupted on the same campus.

His bail was set at $600,000 and it was not immediately clear if he has an attorney.

Haynes’ aunt, Cynthia Haynes, told The Dallas Morning News she was “shocked” to hear her nephew was possibly involved. After hearing news late Tuesday that Haynes had turned himself in, she said the family remained in disbelief.

“He was not raised like that,” she said. “He came from a good family.”

Afternoon gunfire sends students scrambling

Officers were dispatched about 1 p.m. to the school in the 5500 block of Langdon Road. A police call log showed more than 20 units responded to the scene.

Jason Evans, a Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman, confirmed four students were taken to hospitals. Their conditions varied, he said, from not life-threatening to serious.

According to Evans, three of the students ranged in age from 15 to 18, and all were injured by gunfire. The age of the fourth, who suffered a “musculoskeletal injury to the lower body,” was not immediately known.

At a news conference about 5 p.m., Christina Smith, Dallas ISD’s assistant chief of police, said the suspected shooter had not been arrested at that time. In an internal police message obtained by The Dallas Morning News, Dallas police officials provided a description of a suspected person and directed officers across the city to look for him.

Photos: Shooting at Wilmer-Hutchins High School leaves four students wounded in Dallas

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Officials declined to comment on how a gun got inside the school, which has metal detectors and a clear backpack policy. However, Smith said the gun did not enter the building “during regular intake time.”

“It was not a failure of our staff, of our protocols, or of the machinery that we have,” Smith said.

Dallas schools Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said at the news conference that Gov. Greg Abbott called to ask for a status update and offered resources in support. Beyond local law enforcement, Elizalde said troopers from the Department of Public Safety, as well as the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were present.

Classes were canceled at the high school for the rest of the week, though Elizalde said there will be mental health support for those who need it. Classes will resume on April 22.

“You don’t ever just get used to this,” she said.

Elizalde added that Wilmer-Hutchins Elementary School will have classes as normal on Wednesday. The facility was placed under lockdown due to its proximity to the high school, but there was no danger posed to its students and staff, she said.

Students report several shots, screaming

Adonta Jackson, a senior at Wilmer-Hutchins, said he heard about eight gunshots and screaming about 1 p.m. He then said students began running out of the school.

Lashunda Edwards, Jackson’s mother, said she got a call from a friend that there was a shooting at the school. 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.”

“I just hope and pray everyone is OK,” Jackson said.

Salondra Ibanez, a freshman, said she was in biology class when she heard two quick shots followed shortly after by several more. She said her class huddled behind her teacher’s desk as she began contacting her family members.

Ibanez’s aunt, Laura Mendoza, said she immediately left work to come get her niece.

“They’re shooting up the school, come help me,” Ibanez told Mendoza.

“I took off, left my car on 310 and ran a mile,” Mendoza said, adding she was grateful for the large police response from several agencies.

Abby Falcon, a sophomore at the school, said she was in history class when she heard gunshots. She said the students in her class rushed to close the door and huddled in the corner as other students ran through the halls.

She then called her mom, who came and picked her up.

“The first thought in my mind was that this was gonna be my last day here,” Falcon said.

Sevynn Jones, another senior, was part of a large group of students who waited at the stadium to be picked up by parents.

As Jones walked away from the stadium with her family, she said she didn’t know how to feel. As a senior, Jones hopes that the incident won’t jeopardize or delay graduation plans.

“It’s not really a safe school to go to,” she said. “I wouldn’t even recommend going to this school because we don’t have like good security.”

‘Another shooting’

Danielle Curtis’ daughter was scrolling on her phone Tuesday afternoon when she turned to her mother and said: “Oh no, it’s another shooting. A shooting at Hutch again.”

It transported Curtis back to a year ago. On April 12, 2024, her daughter was at Wilmer-Hutchins High when one student shot another in a classroom.

The district would later blame both human error and systems failure for why a teenager was able to bring a gun into the high school. The Monday after the 2024 incident, which occurred in a classroom, students staged a walkout and said they did not feel safe at school. Multiple students said at the time that the school’s metal detectors were not regularly used and the school did not consistently enforce its clear bag policies, both points of frustration.

Dallas ISD leaders said at the time 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.

Curtis said she didn’t feel the district took campus safety seriously enough after the incident. She wasn’t surprised to learn it happened again.

“I pray for the families that are affected, and I hope and pray no one is seriously injured,” she said. “But here we are again. Same time of year, same thing.”

Curtis pulled her daughter out of DISD after last year’s shooting. The girl still has friends on campus and is terrified for their safety.

Roughly 900 students attend Wilmer-Hutchins High. It has a shorter history in the district than many other DISD high schools.

Two decades ago, the state closed Wilmer-Hutchins ISD due to financial problems, and its students were absorbed into Dallas. A renovated Wilmer-Hutchins High School reopened as part of DISD in 2011.

Staff writers Kelli Smith, Zacharia Washington and Julia James contributed to this report.