Mesquite school shooting: Police shoot student, 16, who brought gun to school, officials say
MESQUITE, Texas - A student who brought a gun into a Mesquite charter school is in the hospital after being shot by police.
The shooting happened at the Pioneer Technology and Arts Academy Mesquite near Oates Drive and Gus Thomasson Road.
Mesquite police say the student who brought the gun to school is a 16-year-old male.
A 911 caller said that there was a student in an office with a firearm in his hands refusing to put it down.
The school immediately went into lockdown as responding officers arrived.
Police say the unidentified 16-year-old was in an office refusing to put the weapon down as school administrators spoke to him, trying to keep him calm. Police say the student was in the office alone when officers arrived.
"Officers responded and attempted to negotiate with the subject. During the process of negotiating, an officer-involved shooting occurred," said Mesquite Police Sgt. Curtis Phillip.
Police say three officers fired at the student, who survived and was taken into custody.
Chris Miller was coming out of a store across the street from the school when he heard the commotion. He began taking pictures of the scene and saw the suspect being tended to by Mesquite Fire-Rescue.
"I saw them bring the suspect out in the ambulance," he recalled. "It's crazy because my kids go to school right down the street."
Police say no one else was injured.
Soon after, students and teachers began filing out of the school and recounted the scary situation that unfolded inside.
"We had to get in a corner and hide and make sure everything was silent," one student recalled.
"We had to come in a single-file line and come into the room," recalled student Maurio Hood. "And then once we got into the main hallway, we had to get searched. And then they told us to come directly to the church."
A reunification site was set up at nearby Living Truth Baptist Church. Parents were eager to hug and comfort their kids.
"Got the lockdown, then I saw it on the news," parent Sarah Walker said while hugging her child. "It's alright. You did good. You did good. Everything is okay."
"It's very scary," said parent Kenya Hawkins. "I think we need more precautions, more security measures throughout all of our schools.
Teachers too were rattled by what happened with officers searching the campus as standard procedure after the shooting.
"Once they heard the noises and saw the police come in, that's when they completely lost it. They all started bawling, ‘Oh, this is real,’" said teacher Shanterria Rider. "It got scary in the classroom. They were freaking out. And, again, you as a teacher, you can't freak out because then it's going to make them scared."
"We're just thankful a tragedy was avoided and nothing worse occurred," said Travis Block, Mesquite Fire's Public Information Officer.
The student was taken to the hospital and is said to be stable.
"We have rigorous safety protocols in place to handle such incidents effectively and efficiently to ensure the well-being of our school community. Today, those procedures were tested, and they worked as intended," the school posted in a statement on social media.
The three officers involved were an eight-year veteran, a five-year veteran and an officer-in-training with multiple years of service from another agency.
The student's motive remains unclear.
The school says it will review what happened and will consider if additional security upgrades are needed.
The Mesquite Police Criminal Investigations Unit and Internal Affairs Unit are investigating this incident as well as investigators from the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office that conducts a separate and independent investigation as well.