Accused Dallas Wilmer-Hutchins High shooter was let in by another student: warrant
The 17-year-old accused of “indiscriminately” shooting and injuring at least four students at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas on Tuesday, April 15, got into the building through an unsecured door opened by another student, court documents state.
Tracy Denard Haynes, a Wilmer-Hutchins student, turned himself in at Lew Sterrett Justice Center about 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dallas ISD police said.
School surveillance cameras show an unidentified student letting Haynes in through an unsecured door about 1:03 p.m., according to the suspect’s arrest warrant affidavit. Haynes walked down the hallway until he spotted several male students. At that point, he pulled out a gun “and began firing at the students indiscriminately,” the warrant states.
One student wasn’t able to run away, and Haynes appeared to shoot him at point-blank range, according to the warrant.
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 male students to local hospitals. Three of the victims — aged 15 to 18 — were injured by gunfire.
A fourth victim, whose age is unknown, sustained 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.
A Dallas-Fire Rescue official told Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV that one of the victims — a 17-year-old male student — was wounded in the leg.
An hour after the four students were taken to hospitals, a 14-year-old female student was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with anxiety-related symptoms.
Two of the four male students have been discharged, Evans said in an updated statement Wednesday. The others are still in the hospital “for observation following procedures to address their injuries.” Both of those students are expected to survive, according to Evans.
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.
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.
“The unthinkable has happened and quite frankly, this is just becoming way too familiar, and it should not be familiar,” Elizalde said.
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.
Haynes is being held at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas on a $600,000 bond, according to jail records. He faces charges of aggravated assault in a mass shooting.
This story was originally published April 16, 2025 at 2:47 PM.
