Judge orders psych evaluation for Italy High School shooter

ITALY, Texas - A judge has ordered a psychological evaluation of the teenage boy charged with a shooting at in Italy High School.

The 16-year-old shooter’s first court hearing happened Wednesday morning. He’s facing two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors said the boy shot 15-year-old Noelle Jones four times in the school’s cafeteria. He also fired at another boy. The bullet brushed by the boy's ear but missed his head.

The teen wore a trench coat and only stopped shooting when he ran out of ammunition, prosecutors said.

Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom because he is a juvenile. His name and mugshot also will not be released.

The suspect’s mother sat with the victim’s father. The two teared up before the hearing began when the mother was called to sit by her son. The teen's father was also with him in court.

Before the hearing, the teen hung his head and looked back once to see who was in the courtroom.

The judge ordered him to remain in juvenile detention on the grounds that he is a danger to himself and others and does not have adequate supervision. He will undergo a psychological evaluation before his next detention hearing on Feb. 7.

Noelle is now recovering at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. On Tuesday she thanked an off-duty Dallas firefighter for helping to save her life.

Captain Charles Hyles lives in Italy and his kids go to the high school. When he heard what happened he ran inside the school to help.

"She was saying, please don't let her die. We told her we would not let her die,” Hyles said. “I felt a special bond with her. When she made me promise she wasn't going to die, I needed to follow up on my promise that I would see her at the hospital."

Fellow students said the shooter had a violent history. They said he and Noelle had been in a relationship but recently broke up.

School administrators would not comment on whether he had any previous behavior problems, citing student privacy.

Ellis County District Attorney Patrick Wilson said it’s an emotional case for him.

"I have children in school as well and I'm not unimpacted by the events that take place in our world. And I worry for them and I worry for the family of the kids that did this,” he said. “There are no winners in this no matter how it shakes out. So it's a tragedy for everybody involved. So I'm affected by this just like everyone else.”

Wilson said his office has not yet decided if they will ask for the teen to be tried as an adult.