Dallas school shooting: 17-year-old charged after allegedly firing ‘indiscriminately’ at students
Dallas County Jail
(DALLAS) — A 17-year-old boy has been charged with aggravated assault mass shooting after he allegedly opened fire at his Dallas high school, shooting classmates “indiscriminately,” according to court documents.
Surveillance cameras showed a student letting the suspect, Tracy Haynes, into Wilmer-Hutchins High School through an unsecured door on Tuesday, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Haynes walked the hallway “until he spotted multiple male students” and then allegedly shot at them “indiscriminately,” hitting five people, the document said.
Haynes then allegedly “approached one student who was not able to run” and “appeared to take a point-blank shot,” the document said.
Five students were taken to hospitals, the document said.
The conditions of those injured was not clear.
A senior student told Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA that he was in the foyer when, around lunch time, he heard a few gunshots. He said he then saw students running and heard screaming, and he took cover in the band room.
Video shows students evacuating the school as police cars and fire trucks gathered at the scene.
All high school students were reunited with their parents and guardians, according to Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde.
There will be no school the rest of the week and mental health professionals will be made available, she said.
“Today, as we all know, the unthinkable has happened,” Elizalde said at a briefing. “And quite frankly, this is just becoming way too familiar, and it should not be familiar.”
The gun used in the shooting “did not come through during regular intake time,” Dallas Independent School District Assistant Chief of Police Christina Smith said at the briefing.
“It was not a failure of our staff, of our protocols, of the machinery that we have,” Smith stressed.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Josh Margolin, Aaron Katersky and Alex Stone contributed to this report.
(GRAPEVINE, TEXAS) — An 18-year-old who was kayaking on Grapevine Lake in Texas over Memorial Day weekend was killed after being struck by a jet ski, whose driver fled the scene, police said.
The incident happened on Sunday evening when the jet ski, with a driver and a passenger onboard, hit the victim, Ava Moore, according to the Grapevine Police Department.
Grapevine Lake is a reservoir in northern Texas, approximately 20 miles northwest of Dallas and northeast of Fort Worth.
The passenger on the jet ski remained at the scene to be interviewed by first responders, police said, while the driver fled with an adult male.
While leaving the area, the driver and the man then struck another vehicle, according to Grapevine Police.
Police are investigating the related automotive hit-and-run incident, while Texas Game Wardens are leading the investigation into Moore’s death on the lake.
Grapevine Police released an image of the alleged jet ski driver, asking anyone with information about the incident and the individual to contact Grapevine Police detectives at cidmail@grapevinetexas.gov.
“Our thoughts are with Ava’s family and friends during this difficult time. Texas Game Wardens remain committed to keeping our public waters safe,” Grapevine Police said in a statement.
(GEORGIA) — A man who has been detained for more than six weeks after being accused of attempting to kidnap a 2-year-old boy at a Walmart in Georgia was granted bond on Tuesday in a case that prosecutors called “unusual.”
Mahendra Patel, 57, of Kennesaw, was arrested and subsequently indicted by a grand jury on attempted kidnapping, battery and assault charges stemming from an incident reported at a Walmart in Acworth on March 18. The case has garnered local and national attention after his defense attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, released surveillance footage that she said proves his innocence.
During a bond hearing on Tuesday, Merchant said Patel was looking for Tylenol for his mother when he approached the mother of the toddler, Caroline Miller, for help. Miller was riding in a motorized cart with her two young children at the time, though Merchant noted she is not physically disabled.
While showing an edited compilation of the surveillance footage showing Patel and Miller in the store, Merchant argued that Patel was offering to hold the toddler while Miller pointed out where the medicine was.
“The video couldn’t be clearer,” Merchant told the judge. “Mr. Patel did not try to kidnap this child.”
She said that after leaning in to reach for the child, Patel “immediately backs up” and puts his hands in his pockets when Miller leans back. She said he went by her several more times before paying for the Tylenol and leaving the store. She said he interacted with other Walmart employees, including one who referred to him as a “friendly older gentleman.”
In asking for a $10,000 bond, she argued that Patel wasn’t a flight risk and had strong ties to the community. She also said that over 250 people, including family members and neighbors, had come to the courthouse that day in support of his release.
“He had a birthday two weeks ago in the Cobb County Jail,” she said. “We just ask that you release him on bond.”
Prosecutor Jesse Evans requested that Patel remain held on bond while citing the defendant’s alleged admissions and his prior criminal history.
Evans showed a clip from the surveillance footage that he said shows Patel grabbing the two-year-old boy’s leg while he’s in his mother’s lap and “tugging the child … away from the mom” and Miller trying to pull the child back to her lap.
“I know there’s a narrated, edited version that was presented by the defense,” Evans told the judge. “The state would say, if you don’t take a closer look, it might cause concerns. But when you do take a closer look, you can see him tugging on this child.”
Miller spoke out following the incident in March, telling Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB she and Patel were “tug-of-warring” over her child. Evans said Miller was on the Zoom call for the hearing and has been “deferential to the state” in the case.
“She is of the belief that the defendant needs treatment,” he told the judge. “I, too, am of the belief that this defendant has got some serious issues that we’ve got to talk about.”
Patel was initially arrested on a kidnapping charge. Evans said the state believes attempted kidnapping is the more appropriate charge, which is why they had “some urgency” to get it to a grand jury, which ultimately indicted him on attempted kidnapping.
“I think the general public thinks about kidnapping, has this visual image of white vans just snatching kids off the street,” Evans said. “And the court knows and state knows, the defense knows, legal experts know, that’s not the legal definition of kidnapping. It’s the slight asportation of a person against their will.”
Evans said the state is “not oblivious to the fact that this is a very bizarre set of circumstances,” but argued that the defendant “encroached on the space of this mother and her two children.”
He said there was a witness in the next aisle who was “unnerved by what he had seen.”
The prosecutor also argued that Patel made “a number of admissions” to police following his arrest on March 21 that were “telling where his mindset is.”
“He admitted that he grabbed the child, he admitted that he upset the mom,” Evans said. “To quote him, ‘She thought I was going to take her kid. I said, No, no, no.'”
Evans said that when Patel saw Miller on the phone before he left the store, he allegedly “pleaded with her” and said he was “not going to take your kid.”
“At the tail end of his interview, he said he wanted to apologize to her for what he had done,” Evans said.
Evans also noted that Patel is a convicted felon, saying the defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in a federal case in 2006 and served six months in federal prison. Merchant, who also addressed the defendant’s criminal history, said Patel was additionally previously convicted of reckless driving and has a pending DUI less safe case for which he was out on bond at the time of his arrest in March.
“This is his fourth arrest,” Evans said, saying the state does not consider Patel a good candidate for bond “based on the history we have here.”
He also alleged Patel may have been intoxicated at the time of the March 18 incident in Walmart, which Merchant countered there was “absolutely no evidence of.”
Judge Gregory Poole granted Patel $10,000 bond, saying that he’s “entitled to a bond,” citing his ties to the community and education.
“He’s got all he needs to show me he’s a member of our community,” Poole said.
The judge said he didn’t find anything in the defendant’s criminal history that made him believe Patel posed a risk to the community, and that based on the video, he saw no flight risk.
There was a large applause in the courtroom following the hearing.
Patel posted bond and could be seen leaving the Cobb County Jail later Tuesday, WSB reported.
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(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) —
The son of a local sheriff’s deputy allegedly opened fire near the Student Union at Florida State University in Tallahassee on Thursday, killing two people and injuring six others, authorities said.
The suspect — 20-year-old Pheonix Ikner, a current FSU student — was shot by responders and has been hospitalized, police said. He was taken into custody with non-life-threatening injuries, multiple law enforcement officials told ABC News.
Ikner is the son of a current Leon County sheriff’s deputy, according to Sheriff Walter McNeil. He had access to one of his mother’s personal weapons, which was one of the weapons found at the scene, the sheriff said. It appeared Ikner had a handgun and a shotgun with him, police said.
The suspect’s mother has been a deputy with the department for more than 18 years and “her service to this community has been exceptional,” McNeil said.
The suspect was also a “long-standing member” of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office’s Youth Advisory Council, McNeil said.
He was “engaged in a number of training programs that we have,” the sheriff said, adding, “Not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”
The campus has been secured, police said.
Police have not identified the two people killed but said they were not students.
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said it’s received six patients, all in fair condition.
Sophomore Paula Maldonado told ABC News she was in class near the Student Union when she heard what sounded like yelling outside.
“Right after, the active threat alarm went off,” she said. “Everyone in my class quickly turned off the lights, put desks to block off the door and hid by the front of the classroom.”
“We were quiet and some were whispering,” Maldonado said. “Some were also crying and helping each other. Like a student next to me told me to put my backpack in front of me to protect myself.”
“A cop came inside and I thought it was the shooter, so it was very scary. But after a couple of minutes another cop came back in and told us to go outside with our hands up, Maldonado said.
Student Daniella Streety told ABC News she was in the building across the street from the Student Union when alert sirens started blaring, and people who were standing outside ran into her building.
Students then fled from the Student Union as law enforcement flooded the scene, she said.
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the Parkland high school shooting in South Florida in 2018, said some of Jaime’s classmates now attend FSU.
“Incredibly, some of them were just a part of their 2nd school shooting and some were in the student union today,” Guttenberg, who has become a gun reform supporter, wrote on social media. “As a father, all I ever wanted after the Parkland shooting was to help our children be safe. Sadly, because of the many people who refuse to do the right things about reducing gun violence, I am not surprised by what happened today.”
President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, “My heart breaks for the students, their families, and faculty at Florida State University. There is no place in American society for violence. Our entire nation is praying for the victims and their families.”
FSU said classes are canceled through Friday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Olivia Osteen, Sony Salzman and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
