HOUSTON – Two people were shot and two others injured when an 18-year-old student drew a gun and opened fire during a classroom fight at a Texas high school yesterday, said police.
Arlington assistant police chief Kevin Kolbye said the suspect, identified as Timothy George Simpkins, was arrested after the incident at Timberview High School in Arlington, a suburb of Dallas.
Kolbye said Simpkins, who turned himself in after fleeing the school, will be charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police said a .45-calibre gun was recovered.
“This is not a random act of violence,” Kolbye told reporters.
“A student got into a fight and drew a weapon.”
Three people were hospitalised, two of them with gunshot wounds, he said.
Local media said a 15-year-old boy is in critical condition, while the other injuries are not life-threatening.
A fourth person, a pregnant woman, was treated at the scene for minor injuries and released.
Kolbye said more than “two or three shots” were fired.
“We know that this is a traumatic incident for these kids.
“We’ve increased security with additional police officers at all of our schools in Arlington.”
The school was locked down following the shooting, and Arlington police set up a secure area for parents to reunite with their children.
Television images showed a heavy police presence around the building after the shooting, with armed officers searching the sprawling campus, and ambulances and fire trucks present.
A fleet of yellow school buses was mobilised to evacuate students after the lockdown was lifted.
Timberview High School has an enrolment of some 1,900 students.
After a year spent largely learning online, US schools have returned to the classroom, reviving the fear of on-campus shootings, with multiple small-scale incidents reported in recent weeks.
More than 256,000 students have been exposed to gun violence at US schools since 13 people were killed in the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, according to data compiled by The Washington Post.
The figure includes those caught up in the violence, such as witnesses, and those forced to evacuate education institutions when gunfire erupted.
According to a Post database, there were 29 school shootings in the US in 2018 and 27 in 2019. The figures do not include shootings at colleges or universities, suicides, or accidental discharges.
The deadliest recent school shooting in the country took place in 2018, when 17 people were killed by a former student at a high school in Parkland, Florida. – AFP, October 7, 2021
