As students return to Austin school where cop was shot, parents remain uneasy

Students and teachers returned to class at Northeast Early College High School on Thursday after a school police officer was wounded near the campus two days earlier by a suspected gunman whom authorities have accused of killing six people in a multicounty rampage.

“You see this stuff happen other places. You never imagine it happening to you and where your child is at," said Flaka Hernandez, whose daughter is a senior at the school in Northeast Austin.

Hernandez said a friend had dropped her daughter off at Northeast Early College High School about 10 minutes before reports began surfacing of a gunman near the campus.

The whole ordeal was terrifying, she said. “The next text I get from her is, ‘Mom, there’s a shooting,’” Hernandez said of her daughter.

Austin school police Sgt. Val Barnes was the only person injured in the shooting Tuesday morning, and he was released from the hospital Wednesday, according to the district. Police and district officials said the suspected gunman, 34-year-old Shane James, fired multiple shots at Barnes and clipped him in the leg. Barnes did not return fire, Austin police spokeswoman Anna Sabana said.

Barnes reported being shot at about 10:40 a.m. Tuesday, according to Austin school district Police Chief Wayne Sneed. The school then went on lockdown for several hours, and classes were canceled Wednesday.

Barnes' actions helped keep the school safe, interim Superintendent Matias Segura said in a statement Wednesday night.

"His swift response was key in keeping our campuses safe," Segura said. "More than 1,200 students and staff were kept safe and secure while officers actively investigated the incident at Northeast and International."

International High School shares a campus with Northeast.

Police as of Friday morning had not yet publicly identified a motive for James opening fire on the officer. Sabana said the gunman left the Northeast Early College area immediately after shooting. From there, authorities say, James drove to South Austin, where he fatally shot four people at different locations and wounded two others, including a second police officer.

Police have also accused James of killing his parents in San Antonio sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning.

'Everything was crazy'

Kyle Olson, who works at Northeast Early College High School, has been teaching long enough to know right away when a lockdown isn’t just a drill.

The students were transitioning into their advisory period about 10:40 a.m. Tuesday when the school went on lockdown, said Olson, who teaches history and coaches boys soccer.

Olson, who has taught at Northeast Early College for 15 years and remembers when the school was called Reagan, had a classroom full of students during Tuesday's lockdown. He said some students were definitely afraid, while others were just waiting for the situation to end.

“I was with kids who I know and have a really strong relationship with, so we could all kind of trust each other,” Olson said.

“Because it didn't actually happen physically in the school building, I think there was a little separation,” he said. “Things got real when police officers in full SWAT gear come in to clear and check every classroom.”

More: What we know about Shane James, suspect in Austin shooting rampage

Many parents on Tuesday tried making their way to the school to find out what was going on, but several roads surrounding the campus were blocked as police investigated the shooting. Some parents gathered at a 7-Eleven convenience store at the corner of U.S. 290 and Cameron Road to wait for information, many visibly distraught, said area resident Maria Tello.

Tello was walking back home from a doctor's appointment at a nearby clinic when police officers stopped her from entering the taped-off area near the 7-Eleven, she said.

"I don't know what's going on," Tello said. "Parents come out and fill the parking lot. Everything was crazy."

Tello's two oldest children graduated from Northeast Early College, and her youngest child attends Andrews Elementary School, which is nearby.

Many parents were panicked, so she stayed behind to help translate the police officers' comments to the parents, many of whom only spoke Spanish, she said.

Parents were trying to reach their children on cellphones, but they didn't know at first whether the shooter was inside or outside of the school, she said.

That kind of fear is horrible, Tello said: "You don't have even words."

Sumit Kumar, who works at the 7-Eleven, said many people were worried Tuesday about their children's fate.

"Parents are scared," Kumar said. "Nobody knows what's going on, whether it's inside the school or outside the school."

A police officer had come in the convenience store and told Kumar where the shooting had happened, so he tried to reassure parents that their children were safe, he said.

Olson, the science teacher, said he is incredibly grateful for Barnes, the officer who encountered the gunman outside the campus.

“I feel indebted to him,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Students return to Northeast Early College after Austin shootings