The names of two men arrested for allegedly planning to commit a mass shooting at the Everman High School homecoming football game last week were released by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.
Brandon Gipson and Isaac Cooper, both 18, were arrested and face multiple charges, including unlawful carrying of a weapon in a prohibited place and terroristic threats, the sheriff’s office said.
The 18-year-olds were taken into custody Friday evening after law enforcement received information about a “credible and potentially imminent threat” at the Everman High School Homecoming football game.
The Everman Police Department said around 7 p.m. Friday, it received information from an off-duty Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office deputy about a person who was en route to the game with a firearm allegedly purchased earlier that day and “intent to commit a shooting once he arrived,” according to Everman Chief of Police Craig Spencer.
“The information that we received included a suspect identification and vehicle information,” Spencer said.
After receiving the information from the off-duty deputy, Everman police dispatched additional units to assist the officers already assigned to the game.
Spencer said there were initially 15-20 officers assigned to the game. After the threat, about 35-40 officers went to the stadium and stayed throughout the rest of the game.
“We had officers scouring the parking lots and at every entrance and exit into the facility,” Spencer said.
A short time later, officers spotted the vehicle matching the description in the tip traveling southbound on Race Street toward the high school football stadium.
A “high-risk traffic stop” was initiated on the vehicle, and it stopped at the east gate of the entrance to the stadium. Two other police units joined the traffic stop.
A semiautomatic rifle and a 60-round magazine were recovered from the vehicle, and the two suspects were taken into custody.
A third passenger, a 10-year-old, was released to their parents. The two suspects are also charged with endangering a child.
Police said at least one of the suspects graduated from Everman High School last year.
Looking back, Spencer said he believes police averted a deadly disaster at the crowded event.
“It was pretty evident to us that this individual was en route here to do some harm, we had approximately 3,000 people here at the stadium full,” said Spencer.
“I certainly believe wholeheartedly, from the bottom of my heart, that these officers did save countless lives,” Spencer added.
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office and Everman police are still investigating to find out what exactly the two suspects’ plan was. It’s unclear if they were targeting fans, players, or someone else.
“Some ‘beef’ that he was trying to take out with a group of people. We do not know the identity of the actual targets,” Spencer said.
“I think it’s pretty safe to assume their targets were Everman ISD students or somebody associated with Everman ISD since they were coming here,” Spencer explained.
Police said they did not want to stir panic with an announcement at the stadium, and the game was not stopped because there was no additional threat once the two suspects were detained.
“Officers were able to tend to this threat within moments,” Spencer said. “There was no reason to incite any sort of unnecessary panic at the football game.”
The game continued as scheduled, and Everman defeated Joshua High School 48-7.