4 students hurt in shooting at Dallas Wilmer-Hutchins High; suspect in custody
At least four students were injured and hospitalized after gunshots were fired inside Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas on Tuesday afternoon, April 15, officials said.
The 17-year-old suspect in the school shooting, Tracy Denard Haynes Jr., turned himself in at Lew Sterrett Justice Center about 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dallas ISD police said. The suspect, a Wilmer-Hutchins student, faces charges of aggravated assault in a mass shooting and is being held on $600,000 bond, according to jail records.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, video from surveillance cameras at the school showed an unidentified student letting Haynes in through an unsecured door at 1:03 p.m. Tuesday. Haynes walked down a hallway until he spotted several male students and he “began firing at the students indiscriminately,” an investigator wrote in the affidavit. The shooter then approached a student who was not able to run away and appeared to fire a point-blank shot at the victim, the warrant states.
The affidavit, written by a Texas Department of Public Safety special agent who gathered information from Dallas ISD police, says that five students were shot and taken to hospitals.
Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesperson Jason Evans said in an emailed statement Tuesday that the fire department’s ambulances initially transported four victims. Three of the victims — male students between 15 and 18 years old — were confirmed to have been injured by gunfire, he said. The fourth victim, whose age is unknown, had some type of “musculoskeletal injury” to his lower body, Evans said.
The four patients were taken to Baylor, Dallas Methodist and Parkland hospitals. Their injuries range in severity from non-life-threatening to serious, Evans said.
About an hour later, a 14 year-old female student was taken to a hospital by ambulance for anxiety-related symptoms, Evans said.
Two of the students injured in the shooting have been discharged, while the other two remained hospitalized on Wednesday “for observation following procedures to address their injuries,” Evans said. “Both are expected to be okay.”
A Dallas-Fire Rescue official told Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV that one of the victims was a 17-year-old male student was wounded in the leg.
More than 20 Dallas police units responded to the high school, at 5520 Langdon Road, shortly after 1 p.m., according to the 911 call log. The active shooting threat ended by 1:45 p.m., officials told WFAA-TV.
Photos and video taken by KTVT-TV showed students running out of the building and numerous police officers at the scene. Students were evacuated to bleachers near the school’s football field and track.
The school district set up a reunification point where families picked up their children at Eagles Stadium. “We understand this is a difficult time and ask for your patience,” Dallas ISD officials said in a statement. “Counselors are on site and available for anyone who may need support.”
All students were reunited with their families, Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said at a 5 p.m. news conference. She said classes at the high school are canceled for the rest of the week but counselors will be available to talk to any students who need support.
Elizalde and Dallas ISD Assistant Police Chief Christiana Smith only took two questions at the press conference, shutting it down after reporters began asking for more details on how the shooter got the gun into the school building. Police said they had confirmed that the gun was not brought inside during “regular intake time” when students are screened by metal detectors as they arrive at school. Smith said it was not a failure of staff procedures or machinery during students’ arrival, but she would not elaborate.
Police later revealed in the arrest warrant affidavit that another student opened a door for Hutchins.
In another shooting just over a year ago on April 12, 2024, a Wilmer-Hutchins student was shot in the leg and a suspect was arrested. After the 2024 shooting, which led to student protests, school officials discovered the suspect in that case was able to bring a gun inside the building because of a staff member’s mistake during security checks and a broken metal detector, KXAS-TV reported. The school district has a clear bag policy.
Sevynn Jones, a Wilmer-Hutchins senior who was waiting to be picked up by her parents after the shooting, told the Dallas Morning News that she didn’t know how to feel about the shooting and hopes it won’t jeopardize her 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.”
The superintendent said Wilmer-Hutchins Elementary School was placed on lockdown during the shooting but that no students at the elementary school were in danger. Classes will continue this week at the elementary school, with added security on campus.
“The unthinkable has happened and quite frankly, this is just becoming way too familiar, and it should not be familiar,” Elizalde said.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in a post on X, “I’m deeply troubled to learn that a shooting has taken place at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas. Our schools should never be places of violence. I’m grateful to the @DallasPD and @DallasFireRes_q for their swift response to this situation.”
In a statement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said, “Our hearts go out to the victims of this senseless act of violence at Wilmer-Hutchins High School. I spoke with Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde and Dallas ISD Chief Albert Martinez. I offered to support the school district families, students, and staff and to provide law enforcement with the tools they need to arrest the criminals involved and bring them to justice. Since I’ve been Governor, Texas has provided over $3 billion in school safety funding. This session, I am seeking an additional $500 million to further safeguard schools across the state. Cecilia and I ask our fellow Texans to join us in praying for the victims’ swift recovery and for the entire Wilmer-Hutchins High School community.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 2:11 PM.
