A 17-year-old accused of injuring multiple individuals during a shooting incident at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas will remain in custody for the time being.
Prosecutors asserted that Tracy Haynes’ actions were premeditated and aimed at specific targets. In defense, it was claimed that Haynes was acting out of fear due to threats made against him and his family by a gang known as 5K, reported Fox 4 KDFW.
However, a judge denied the request to reduce his bond, which stands at $3.1 million.
Here is more of the story from Fox:
DALLAS – A judge denied a request to lower the $3.1 million bond for the 17-year-old Wilmer-Hutchins High School shooting suspect.
Wilmer-Hutchins High School Shooting
The backstory: A hearing was held on Monday morning for 17-year-old Tracy Haynes, Jr.
Haynes is accused of opening fire inside the Wilmer-Hutchins High School hallway on April 15 and injuring five people.
Video clips from three different school security cameras were shown during the hearing.
They appeared to show Haynes entering the school through a side door and firing shots in the hallway. Haynes allegedly approached one student who wasn’t able to run away and took a point-blank shot.
Bond Reduction Hearing
What they’re saying: Prosecutors argued in favor of a high bond amount, stating the shooting was premeditated and planned out to target several victims. They said the only reason the final victim is still alive is that the gun jammed when Haynes was standing over him.
They also referenced a juvenile family violence incident involving the same gun at Haynes’ father’s house and an assault incident at his former school, Roosevelt High School. Haynes was sentenced by the juvenile court and completed six months of probation for that case.
The prosecutors pointed to the eight hours Haynes spent on the run after the shooting to argue he is a flight risk.
The other side: The defense argued that Haynes feared for his life because members of the 5K gang were threatening him and his family.
Several of his relatives testified that those threats started while he was living with his father and attending Roosevelt High School. They continued after he transferred to Wilmer-Hutchins High School because there are members of the gang who attend both schools.
Haynes’ aunt, Cassandra Griffin, testified that he called her after the shooting.
“He said, ‘They gonna kill me. They gonna kill me.’ That’s all that he kept saying,” she said.
The outcome: Judge Carter Thompson denied the request to reduce Haynes’s bond.
He was initially charged with four counts of aggravated assault, with a bond set at $160,000 for each charge.
The charges against him were later upgraded to six counts of aggravated assault in a mass shooting, with a bond set at $500,000 for five of those counts and $600,000 for one of the counts.
His total bond amount is now $3.1 million.
