DALLAS — Shots rang out and students scrambled for safety Saturday night at Ellis Davis Field House.
Video taken by WFAA shows chaos as Dallas Independent School District police search for the shooter at the South Oak Cliff- Kimball High School basketball game, hours after the new South Oak Cliff High School was opened.
Police say an 18-year-old boy was shot in the chest. A DISD officer was grazed by a bullet fragment.
"South Oak Cliff celebrated the ribbon-cutting ceremony of going back into their newly renovated building and this was the culminating event, and to end the day like this is heartbreaking,” district spokesperson Robyn Harris said.
A 15-year-old boy was arrested in the shooting at the basketball game after turning himself in.
Community members gathered Sunday night in Oak Cliff to talk about the shooting and the violence plaguing their neighborhoods.
"I'm tired of it. I am tired of it,” shouted community activist Olinka Green.
In addition to the Ellis Davis Field House shooting, a 16-year-old boy was also shot and killed in DeSoto Saturday night.
"I'm not here to sugarcoat it. I am not here to play. These are babies killing our babies,” Green said.
Shareefah Mason is a teacher. The 18-year-old victim of Saturday's field house shooting used to be one of her students.
She says what is fueling the violence is poverty and lack of opportunity, especially among young black males who are primarily the victims and the suspects of violence in Dallas.
"Poverty. I think it's simple. I think it's poverty. When you are stricken with poverty, when you are in communities with poverty such as this, then all you have is what you have around you,” Mason said.
So residents, community activists and leaders gathered Sunday to try and come up with solutions. How can they stem the violence that is taking so many lives?
"The time is now. We have to ensure our students are safe and we have to invest in our students because they are our future and our future is being taken away one by one,” Mason said.
DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said he will hold a news conference Monday morning to discuss the shooting and to discuss what DISD is doing to address security concerns.
More on WFAA:
- 21-year-old killed in drug deal gone wrong in Oak Cliff, arrest warrant says
- 29-year-old shot, killed after intervening in argument, Dallas police say
- 28-year-old man arrested after woman found shot, killed in Denton home, police say
- Suspect tied to at least 5 robberies in North Texas arrested, police say