A 17-year-old was jailed Wednesday evening in connection with a fatal shooting outside James Bowie High School in Arlington.
Julian Howard was booked into the Arlington City Jail on a murder charge in the slaying of 18-year-old Etavion Barnes. His bail had not been set Thursday morning, and it was unclear whether he had an attorney.
The school went into an hourslong lockdown after shots were fired shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday near a portable building on the campus in the 2100 block of Highbank Drive, near Sherry Street. School resource officers found Barnes lying on the ground, unresponsive, and attempted “life-saving measures” until paramedics arrived, according to police.
Barnes had been shot “up to five or six” times, Arlington police Chief Al Jones said in a Wednesday news conference. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Jones said.
Authorities were working to determine a motive, but police said they believe Howard targeted Barnes. Both teens were students.
Police said as of Thursday morning they had not recovered a weapon and did not know how Howard obtained a firearm.
Howard declined to speak to police without a lawyer, according to police.
The school said in a social media post that classes would be canceled Thursday and students “will have the full support of Arlington ISD’s counseling team” when they return. Classes were canceled for Friday as well, a Thursday post read.
Less than two weeks ago, on April 12, a student was shot and wounded inside a classroom at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in southeast Oak Cliff.
The student was struck in the upper thigh, an injury police said was not life-threatening. The following Monday, students walked out in protest, saying they did not feel safe on campus and wanted school leaders to do more.
This is at least the third school shooting in Arlington in the past few years.
Last year, Ja’Shawn Poirier, 16, was shot and killed outside Lamar High School in Arlington on March 20. The shooter, who was not tried as an adult, was sentenced to 40 years in prison in September. He was 16-years-old at the time of his sentencing. The Tarrant County district attorney’s office said he will have a hearing on his 19th birthday to determine whether he’ll be transferred to an adult prison.
On Oct. 6, 2021, three people were hospitalized after a shooting at Timberview High. The school is part of Mansfield ISD but is in Arlington, a little more than three miles from Bowie High School. The shooter was sentenced in July to 12 years in prison after being convicted of attempted capital murder.
