Bowie High School in Arlington opened its doors for classes on Monday following last week’s deadly shooting.
Classes were canceled for the remainder of the week following the shooting on Wednesday that resulted in the death of 18-year-old Etavion Barnes.
Students were allowed to return to campus briefly on Friday to retrieve their belongings that were left behind on Wednesday. Extra security measures were added to ensure students’ safety, including the use of metal detectors upon entry, per a Bowie social media post.
Trained counselors will be available to speak with students and faculty this week, according to the media post.
On April 26, a vigil was held for the community to honor Barnes and seek healing and support. The Dallas Express spoke with two sophomore students of Bowie High School, Elizabeth Hyden and Nalani Patterson, who said they couldn’t imagine something like this would occur at their school.
“I feel like a lot of the times we say this would never happen to us or could never be us, this could happen to that school, but it really does happen,” Patterson told DX. “As soon as it happened, I was like, it’s us. It’s our community, it’s our people we call friends, people we probably don’t even know but go to school with and see on a day-to-day basis. One minute, you see them, and now they’re gone.”
Hyden, who retrieved her belongings on April 26, noted a “somber” feeling in the building. She noted she felt it would be “unsafe” to go back to school.
Elsewhere in the metroplex, a student at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in the Dallas ISD was shot by another student on April 12, as The Dallas Express reported.
Ja’kerian Rhodes-Ewing, a 17-year-old student, shot a classmate in the upper left thigh. His injuries were non-life threatening.
Students organized a walkout the following week to protest lax campus security, as covered by The Dallas Express.
