Video shows alleged Dallas school shooter entering through "unsecured" door, affidavit says
The 17-year-old suspect who allegedly shot and injured several students at a Dallas high school on Tuesday was let inside by another student, an arrest affidavit revealed Wednesday.
Four people were hospitalized and a fifth person was treated for anxiety-related symptoms after the shooting at Wilmer-Hutchins High School on Tuesday afternoon, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by CBS News Texas and information provided by first responders.
The suspect, identified as Tracy Haynes Jr., turned himself into authorities late Tuesday and was booked into the Dallas County jail.
Haynes Jr. is facing a charge of aggravated assault mass shooting – a first-degree felony. He is being held in the Dallas County jail on a $600,000 bond, according to police records. The Dallas County Sheriff's Office said if Haynes posts bond, he will be required to wear an ankle monitor.
Surveillance video shows student letting suspect inside school
The shooting happened a little after 1 p.m. Tuesday at Wilmer-Hutchins High School, located at 5500 Langdon Road.
According to the arrest affidavit, surveillance video captured the moment an unidentified student let Haynes Jr. inside the school through an unsecured door.
Haynes Jr. allegedly walked down a hallway until he saw multiple male students, displayed a firearm and fired at them, the affidavit said. Then, Haynes Jr. allegedly approached one student who wasn't able to run away and appeared to take a point-blank shot. DISD police confirmed that the suspect's gun jammed while he was firing at point-blank range, likely saving that individual's life.
The affidavit said five injured students were transported to local hospitals.
Watch the video below:
Wilmer-Hutchins students and parents describe the terror
"I heard like five shots go off. It was right next to my classroom," said junior student Deliyah Martin.
"They told me, 'Get down, turn the lights.' My teacher locked the door, did all the procedures that they were supposed to do," she said.
Martin later learned about the shooting victims. "It was very traumatic," she said.
Wilmer-Hutchins freshman Olivia Smith said she knows one of the boys hit by gunfire and said she's concerned about her classmates and her safety.
"I realized it was a gun. I felt scared, my heart was beating, and I just start crying because I didn't know what to do," said Smith. "When I heard they got shot, I started crying even more. I called his cousin last night and she told me he is okay. You can't trust nobody at this rate."
This is the second school shooting Wilmer-Hutchins has faced, almost a year to the day.
Martin's mother, Tamika Martin, said she's fed up with the incidents.
"Honestly, I'm afraid for my daughter to even go back to that school at all because I don't feel like she's safe there," Tamika Martin said.
DeSoto man unknowingly gave the suspect a ride after he left school
A DeSoto man said he gave the suspect a ride, not knowing that the teen was accused of firing a gun at school that same afternoon.
"I was just trying to help somebody out," Milton Nieto said.
Nieto said he was on his way to work Tuesday near Wilmer–Hutchins High School, when a teen boy claimed his car had crashed and asked for a ride.
"I thought I would pick him up, take him to his dad," Nieto said. "I know he was scared. I know he was panicking, and I was questioning him."
Nieto says he ended up dropping Hayes off at a gas station. Hours later, he saw headlines.
"Never in my life would I have thought that I was picking up somebody involved in something way, way bigger than just anything," he said.
Dallas ISD leader: "It was not a failure of our staff"
Dallas ISD Assistant Chief of Police Christina Smith said the gun Haynes Jr. allegedly used didn't come through "during regular intake time, so it was not a failure of our staff, of our protocols, or of the machinery that we have."
The district said that most middle schools and high schools have metal detectors at entrances.
Classes at Wilmer-Hutchins are canceled for the rest of the week as the investigation continues.
The district said mental health professionals will be available to students.
