DALLAS — It is a nightmare no one should go through, but a reality Wilmer-Hutchins High School faced on April 12.
That is when a student shot another student inside the school. Dallas ISD Police, Dallas Police Department, Dallas Fire-Rescue and Hutchins Police all responded to the shooting.
“We had an officer on campus that provided life-saving measures, first-aid to ensure that that wound did not bleed out. The rest of us were showing up.” said Albert Martinez, Dallas ISD Police Chief. “This student arrived to school late and went in through our process.”
Martinez said that the student went through a metal detector that day and that it did go off; however, there was not a proper bag check.
“There was human error as well as errors in our own system, our training, our protocols. That’s why we’re talking about tightening this up,” Martinez said.
He said each school has designated staff responsible for checking bags. School police must have probable cause to conduct bag checks because of the Fourth Amendment protecting people from unreasonable search and seizures.
“That’s where we are nowadays," Martinez said. "We’re having to add safeguards that require a teacher to also be in a sense part of the safety measures."
That is why Martinez said they are retraining staff on metal detectors and bag checking.
“What we’re trying to do is galvanize and set that standard," he said. "Nothing below that standard will be accepted."
They are also working on ways to improve communication.
“There’s always chaos on the front end. One of the first things that goes out the window is communication,” Martinez said. “Sometimes what we find is not so much that we’re not delivering the communication is that the person did not sign up for the communication. Therefore, we cannot deliver that information.”
Martinez told WFAA it took about an hour-and-a-half from the time of the shooting to the time they cleared the school. Then, they began the reunification process at about 12:30 p.m. That took about two hours.
“It’s very slow and methodical, but it has to be that way because you’re getting somebody, you’re entrusted with to get them back to the proper person,” said Martinez.
Dallas ISD police are still working to determine what led to the shooting. While that remains a question, extra security has been stationed at the school.
“We’re going to do everything we can at our doorstep to make sure that it is a safe haven,” Martinez said.
The district is putting a focus on safety, so students can focus on learning.
