A shooting incident at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Southeast Dallas Tuesday afternoon left four people injured and sent students running for safety, as a heavy police and emergency response swarmed the scene.
Dallas police responded to the shooting around 1 p.m. Dallas Fire-Rescue confirmed four individuals were transported to a local hospital, though the severity of their injuries has not been fully disclosed. At least one victim, a 17-year-old male student, was shot in the lower leg. His injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening.
Footage captured from SKY 4 showed a large police and ambulance presence outside the high school, while students were seen being evacuated to nearby Wilmer-Hutchins Eagles Stadium.
Police also did not say anything about what may have happened in the moments leading up to the shooting or share any details about how the gun got into the building.
Police said they confirmed the gun used in the shooting did not enter the building through “regular intake,” when the students enter the building in the morning through metal detectors and are subject to a bag search.
Earlier in the afternoon, Dallas City Councilman Tennell Atkins said someone must have let someone in with the gun. Police officials have not confirmed that assessment or offered an alternative explanation.
Sergio Campos, a Wilmer City Council member and parent, happened to be on campus at the time for a meeting with a teacher. He described hearing around seven gunshots before witnessing two injured students being carried outside, one appearing to suffer a leg wound.
“The kids were just running out, all of them — just hundreds of kids running out,” Campos said, describing the chaotic scene that unfolded in the moments after the gunfire erupted.
Students inside the building scrambled to find cover. Salondra Ibanez, a ninth-grader at the school, described the terrifying moment in her classroom. “At first I was just trying to process it because sometimes they smack things in the halls when they’re playing around,” she said. “But it went off again and it was faster. That’s when we got behind the teacher’s desk. I was making sure my classmates were okay, and then we went into the storage room and waited until we were escorted out.”
The shooting has reignited frustrations and fears among parents and community members over school safety. Shauna Williams, a mother of two Wilmer-Hutchins students, voiced her distress while reuniting with her children at Eagles Stadium.
“I’m thinking about taking them and putting them in homeschool,” she said. “I can’t keep going through this as a parent. It’s terrifying to think about losing your child.”
Parents were directed to reunite with their children at Eagles Stadium at 5520 Langdon Road. Officials required photo identification to ensure proper release of students.
Tuesday’s shooting comes just shy of one year after another incident at the same school where a 17-year-old student shot a classmate inside a classroom.
In that 2023 incident, a teacher reportedly intervened and ordered the armed student out of the room. The school was locked down as authorities searched for the shooter, who was later found near the school’s football field. A firearm was recovered in nearby woods.
The recurrence of a shooting on campus is drawing increased scrutiny over Wilmer-Hutchins High School’s safety measures. The school is equipped with metal detectors and enforces a clear backpack policy—measures intended to prevent weapons from entering the premises. How a student was able to carry a gun into the building for the second time in a year remains an urgent question.
Dallas ISD has yet to explain whether the weapon bypassed the metal detectors or whether the suspect was subject to proper screening before entering the building.
Authorities are still investigating the motive behind Tuesday’s shooting and are working to determine how the firearm was brought onto school grounds. Police have not said whether the shooter acted alone or if others were involved.
In the meantime, school officials are urging the public to avoid the area while investigations continue. The district has pledged to support the injured students and work with law enforcement to evaluate and enhance campus safety procedures.
Parents and residents are calling for greater accountability, transparency, and real changes to prevent further violence in a school that has now suffered two shootings in as many years.
“This can’t keep happening,” one parent said. “We send our kids to school to learn, not to survive.”