Dallas ISD police chief on Wilmer-Hutchins shooting: 'We could have prevented this'

DISD police chief discusses school safety issues

Dallas ISD's police chief says protocols were not followed, resulting in a gun getting inside the Wilmer-Hutchins High School campus.

DALLAS - Dallas ISD school staff are going through a retraining process after a student brought a gun to Wilmer-Hutchins High and shot another student in the leg.

The district's police chief says protocols were not followed, resulting in the gun getting inside the campus.

"Our protocols were not strictly followed as they should have been. We could have prevented this," said DISD Police Chief Albert Martinez.

Chief Martinez is taking full responsibility for the on-campus shooting on April 12.

Ja'kerian Rhodes-Ewing (Dallas PD)

17-year-old Ja'Kerian Rhodes-Ewing came to the campus late, according to Chief Martinez.

His bag was carrying a weapon that triggered the metal detector, but no one stopped him or checked his bag.

DISD blames protocol failure for gun on campus

A Wilmer-Hutchins High School student charged with shooting a fellow student got the gun on campus through the metal detectors because his backpack wasn’t checked properly, a Dallas ISD trustee says.

Police say he shot another student in a classroom. That student survived and Rhodes-Ewing was arrested.

[REPORTER: "What went wrong?"]

"We identified human error, and we also find that we have a sort of systems failure. We are not following our protocols and processes and our training," said Martinez. "Our monitors and staff members are dealing with a long line of students, school is about to start and so there’s some pressures there, and we want them to understand that safety, that protocol, that taking the time to do what’s right, ensures everybody will be safe."

[REPORTER: "Are detectors not working?"]

"In this instance, our metal detector was working fine. Our policy, our protocols were not being followed as they should’ve been. Our secondary step to ensure why did it go off," responded Chief Martinez. "We have already moved old ones that don’t function. They are a tool to help us, but it still takes us taking those steps to ensure that if it’s telling us something, we check."

Dallas school shooting could have been prevented

The chief of the Dallas ISD police department said a recent shooting at Wilmer Hutchins High School could have been prevented if safety protocols had been followed.

There was an off-campus shooting involving two Roosevelt High students last week.

DPD is handling the investigation.

There was an increased police presence after school there was canceled Friday.

Chief Martinez said there needed to be a reset following the incident and a credible threat.

Dallas ISD Crime and Public Safety Southeast Dallas Wilmer Hutchins