Shooting suspect arrested inside Texas high school; parents express worries

HOUSTON (KTRK) - A high school was put on lockdown Thursday after a suspect in a police shootout ran into the school.

No one inside Wisdom High School was hurt, but some parents were upset by how they say the school responded to the situation.

There were tight hugs and teary eyes as parents reunited with their children. It had been an agonizing few hours wondering what was going on.

It turns out one of their classmates who is part of what police described as a violent crew somehow got into the building after escaping a shootout with police at an apartment complex nearby.

“I’m furious as well. Because if this happened, that means it’s not safe. Anybody on the street can just walk in,” said Kaylin St. Julien, a parent.

Her son was inside giving her a play by play of what they knew.

Meanwhile, video from inside the school’s auditorium began surfacing, while parents waited for the school or the district to say something.

In the video, the suspect is seen being arrested, with students running in fear not knowing what would happen next.

“The school didn’t notify me. That’s my main worry,” parent Jadira Luna said.

Police were telling each other on their radios at 12:34 p.m.: “Go ahead and call the high school. Let’s get it on lockdown. I don’t want that shooter going back there and trying to make entry into the high school going back to class or something with a weapon.”

A Houston Independent School District spokesperson confirmed Thursday night that the school district did not send out its first notice to parents until 1:53 p.m., more than an hour later.

It said there was suspicious activity in the area and that the school was on lockdown, but made no reference to a suspect inside.

“It’s their job to let us know,” Luna said. “I was looking at the page and they did it way after my child told me at 12:40.”

At 2:33 p.m., nearly two hours later, the school district put out a post on social media, telling parents an unauthorized person was on campus and the suspect had been taken into custody and students were safe.

“How did they get in in the first place when everything was supposed to be locked?” parent Kenia Torres said.

Parents like Torres were outside of the high school on Thursday asking for more transparency, better communication and security protocols to be revisited.

When the school district asked how the suspect was able get inside the school to begin with, it deferred the question to Houston police.

The police said how the suspect got into the school and auditorium would be a part of the investigation, and the school district would have to look at its protocols.