‘I heard like six shots': Students recount shooting inside Wilmer-Hutchins HS

Students inside Wilmer-Hutchins HS ran to take cover in classrooms, behind desks, and inside bathrooms after gunshots rang out.

Dallas ISD officials confirmed a shooting unfolded inside the campus Tuesday afternoon. Three students were shot and a fourth was grazed by a bullet, officials said. The school is the same one where a student was injured in a classroom shooting last year.

“We were in class,” Detaeja King said. King is a junior at Wilmer-Hutchins. “I heard like six shots and the teacher ran to the door and closed it and told us to hide in the corner.”

Down the hall, Solandra Ibáñez was stunned.

“I heard a few shots go off, but I wasn't sure if they were real gunshots,” Ibáñez said. “So, I just stood there. Like, I froze.”

Students said the gunshots continued shortly after.

“I just thought like it was a computer falling or something, but then it was five more after that,” King said. “And then everybody just started running, and I was like was that a gunshot?”

Dallas Fire-Rescue confirmed three people were shot and a fourth person was grazed by a bullet during the shooting Tuesday.

As parents heard from their children, they rushed to the scene. However, roads surrounding the Dallas ISD high school were blocked by authorities.

“Just getting here was terrible. They wouldn’t even allow us to walk up here,” Unique Willis said.

Willis’ son is a student at Wilmer-Hutchins. She parked her vehicle off Langdon Road, south of the campus. Parents, however, were only given limited access on the north end of Langdon Road near J.J. Lemmon Road. “So, I had to go all the way around and park over here. So that’s why you see me walking this way.”

Once outside of the school, parents waited for hours to pick up their students.

“When you send your kid at the school, they should be safe. It's not safe,” Shonta Rice said. Rice’s son attends the high school.

Parents and guardians were later reunited with their students at Eagle Stadium.

“I had contacted my aunt, and I told her if she could come pick me up because she was in the area,” Ibanez said. “And she got up and came to pick me up as soon as possible.”

As of late Tuesday afternoon, officials had not confirmed whether anyone was in custody in connection to the shooting.

Some parents said they are frustrated with the level of security and do not feel safe with the current protocols in place that include clear backpacks and metal detectors.

“This keeps going on. At this point, I’m not going to lie, my son is going to get pulled out of Wilmer-Hutchins. He’s no longer going to attend,” Rice said.

Rice and dozens of parents referenced the April 2024 shooting that occurred inside a WHHS classroom. A student was shot in the leg by a classmate. The shooter, according to officials, was able to bring a gun into the building, bypassing security and metal detectors.

“You'll never want to get that phone call that is your child,” Rice said. “They got to do better with these schools.”

While students confirmed that their backpacks were checked and that metal detectors were functioning when they arrived at school early Tuesday morning, officials have not clarified how the gun made it into the school.

“They checked our bags and stuff, so I don't know how he got it in because they do a one-by-one each check our bags,” King said. “We all wear clear backpacks.”

Dallas ISD Police have not said what led to the outbreak of gunfire or if the shooter is in custody.