The father of a teenager involved in a shooting at Lamar High School in Arlington in March was sentenced to over six years in federal prison on Thursday.
John Edward Porter, 50, faced his own legal consequences in the aftermath of the school shooting allegedly perpetrated by his then-15-year-old son.
The suspect, whose identity has not been publicly disclosed due to his minor status, allegedly opened fire on the school campus, killing a fellow student, Ja’Shawn Poirier, 16, and sending another to the hospital, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The teen currently faces charges of murder and aggravated assault and will be tried as a juvenile on September 18 after a ruling by Tarrant County Juvenile Court Judge Alex Kim, according to KERA News.
Neither the police nor the defendant’s legal team have publicly disclosed the reasons behind the shooting. However, there has reportedly been some speculation that it was related to an alleged sexual assault.
During a hearing in June, the prosecution mentioned that the teen had testified to doctors that he had opened fire at the school after spotting two individuals he believed to have sexually assaulted him in a school restroom the year before, KERA News reported.
As for the juvenile’s father, he landed in hot water with authorities after a comprehensive search of his residence following the school shooting allegedly yielded multiple firearms, including a Smith & Wesson .357 gauge revolver, a Smith & Wesson M&P .556 caliber rifle, and a Glock .40 caliber pistol.
There was also paperwork for the shotgun believed to have been used by Porter’s son, a Mossberg model 500, which was purchased by a relative.
Porter’s prior felony convictions for first-degree robbery and sexual battery in Louisiana in 1996 barred him from owning a firearm per federal law.
After allegedly confessing to having been in possession of the firearms found at his residence, Porter was arrested on federal charges.
He later pleaded guilty to the weapons charges in May, according to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman sentenced Porter to 77 months in federal prison on September 7.
Gun-related violence occurs frequently around the metroplex, but especially in Dallas.
Just a few days after the shooting at Lamar High School, another school shooting happened at a Dallas ISD campus in North Dallas. Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde blamed the incident on the high rate of crime in Dallas.
“We all know that violence is up in our Dallas community … We can’t contribute to the normalizing of guns in our communities, and if we held school today as usual I feel that we would be contributing to that normalization,” Elizalde said.
According to the City of Dallas Open Data crime overview dashboard, there have been 1,688 weapon violations and 171 homicides within city limits this year as of September 7.
Downtown Dallas also remains a hot spot for crime amid a serious staffing shortage at the Dallas Police Department, with car theft and drug crime rates significantly surpassing those seen in neighboring Fort Worth’s downtown area. Cowtown has its city center patrolled by a dedicated police unit and private security officers.
While roughly 3,100 sworn officers are employed at DPD, a report previously recommended 4,000 are needed to manage crime.