18-year-old male student who was fatally shot outside Bowie High School in Arlington Wednesday has been identified as Etavion Barnes.
A 17-year-old student is in custody, according to police.
Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said officers found Barnes unresponsive on the ground when they arrived to respond to a shots-fired call outside the portable buildings on the Bowie High School campus at about 2:50 p.m. "The officers immediately began performing life-saving measures on him while we waited for paramedics to arrive," Jones said. "The young man was transported to the local hospital, and I'm truly heartbroken to say he was pronounced dead from his injuries. Bowie High School was immediately placed on lockdown."
Jones said officers found the suspect, a 17-year-old male student, not far from the school and he was taken into custody.
A state school safety law went into effect last September requiring armed personnel on every campus in Texas. According to Arlington ISD’s website, Bowie High School has one school resource officer.
This bill also compelled school districts to create active shooter plans, health training for certain school faculty and put restrictions on those who carry a gun in school.
Despite instituting these new school safety requirements, Texas lawmakers allocated only $10 per student for security measures—a 28-cent increase over 2022. Lawmakers also set aside $15,000 in grants to provide each campus, but that’s just a fraction of an armed guard’s salary.
Less than two weeks ago, there was a shooting at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in southeast Dallas. One student was injured in that shooting and a 17-year-old suspect, also a student at that school, was arrested.