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    Sunday, May 05, 2024

    Four wounded in Texas high school shooting

    Families are addressed by an unidentified person at center, as they wait to be reunited with their children at the Mansfield ISD Center For The Performing Arts, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, in Mansfield, Texas, following a school shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

    Arlington, Texas — An 18-year-old student opened fire during a fight at his Dallas-area high school on Wednesday, injuring four people and then fleeing before being taken into custody hours later, authorities said.

    Timothy George Simpkins was taken into custody without incident, the Arlington Police Department tweeted. He was booked in the Arlington jail on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was being held on $75,000 bail.

    One person was in critical condition, another was in good condition and a third person was treated for minor abrasions and was scheduled to be released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon, police said. A fourth person was hurt but did not require treatment at a hospital. Police said earlier that three of the four injured were students.

    The shooting at Timberview High School, which is in Arlington but belongs to the school district in neighboring Mansfield, stemmed from a fight that broke out in a classroom, Arlington police Assistant Chief Kevin Kolbye said at news conference before Simpkins' arrest.

    “This is not a random act of violence,” he said. “This is not somebody attacking our school.”

    Timberview serves about 1,900 students in the ninth through 12th grades. The sprawling complex opened in 2004.

    After news of the shooting spread, parents gathered at the Mansfield Independent School District Center for the Performing Arts about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the high school to be reunified with their kids, who were bused over. Among them was Justin Rockhold, whose ninth-grade son had texted him to let him know he was OK.

    Rockhold said he has served in the military and he drew on that experience to instruct his son, telling him to keep his head down and be still to stay safe. When asked whether he had thought a shooting could happen at the school, he said his military training is also a reminder of life’s dangerous realities.

    “Obviously in America — in the world we live in today — it’s always something. ... It’s in the back of your mind,” Rockhold said, adding that he was praying for the injured. “I’m just blessed today that my kid’s safe.”

    The shooting happened just days after a shooting at a Houston charter school that injured an administrator. Texas’ deadliest school shooting occurred in May 2018, when a then-17-year-old armed with a shotgun and a pistol opened fire at Santa Fe High School near Houston, killing 10 people, most of whom were students.

    Bleed reported from Little Rock, Arkansas. Acacia Coronado in Austin contributed to this report. Coronado is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

    A Burleson, Texas, SWAT officer directs traffic to a parking area for families arriving to be reunited with their school children, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas, following a shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
    Stephanie Wade, left, comforts her daughter Keeley after she became emotional describing the environment during a school shooting at the Timberview High School in Arlington to the media, after the pair were reunited, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Mansfield, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
    In this image from WFAA-TV video, students evacuate Timberview High School on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. Authorities say a student opened fire inside the Dallas-area high school during a fight. (WFAA-TV via AP)

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