By Amira Van Leeuwen and Megan Wehring
KYLE — An investigation conducted by Kyle PD, with assistance from Hays CISD, found that there was no immediate risk or threat to students at the Wallace Middle School dance on Friday, Dec. 9.
Around 10 p.m. that night, Kyle PD posted on Facebook that the threat occurred near the end of the scheduled dance, with a School Resource Officer (SRO) and several school officials providing security. The dance started at 5 p.m. and was scheduled to end at 7 p.m.
At 3:43 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 13, Hays CISD emailed a review of the incident and response to families. This provided a timeline of the events that occurred on Friday.
• 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.: Wallace Middle School hosted an after school dance. Nine campus adults were on-campus supervising the event; the campus SRO was on-campus; all students were required to present and wear their campus ID; and all students’ belongings (backs and backpacks) were locked in the office.
• 6:12 p.m.: Student reported to administrator that a friend at the dance told him that he heard someone say they were going to shoot up the school. The reporting student advised that they did not know who made the original comment or what exactly was heard. That reporting student provided the name of their friend who reported the information to them.
• 6:13 p.m.: Administrator met with SRO and the reporting student about what was heard. The campus team began the process of locating any students or information to obtain specific information.
• 6:13-6:45 p.m.: Campus team met with several students and contacted several adults. No specific information, threats, weapons, photographs or postings were located.
• 6:45 p.m.: Dance participants were told that the dance was concluded. The lights were flashed on and off and told to start moving towards the exits after picking up their belongings. This is the normal procedure and time that this type of event is announced and ended. Students began to exit the building to meet their rides.
• 6:49 p.m.: Hays County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) receives a call on their administrative line (not 911) in which a mother of a WMS student reported that there was a shooting at WMS. She indicated that she received this information from her student who was at the dance.
• 6:50 p.m.: HCSO dispatched units to WMS to respond to an active shooter incident 6:51 p.m. Kyle PD also responds to WMS.
• 6:51 p.m. A second administrative call is received via law enforcement dispatch (not 911) in which parent of WMS student reports that they are shutting down the dance because of a shooting outside.
• 6:54 p.m. Kyle PD arrives on scene and meets with SRO who advises that there are no issues on campus.
• 6:55 p.m.: Responding law enforcement units are advised there is no incident at WMS that requires law enforcement response
• 6:57 p.m.: Additional law enforcement units are cancelled.
• 7:06 p.m.: Kyle PD Criminal Investigations Division is called to the scene to investigate the incident
“The police department received third or fourth-hand information into our dispatch center from a parent who was not on scene and did not have direct knowledge or information of anything specific,” said Kyle PD Chief Jeff Barnett. “They called into the dispatch center concerned that they had received a message from their student that there was some concern of a shooting incident at the school that was actively taking place.”
Kyle PD and Hays CISD collaborated and interviewed “multiple subjects as well as scoured social media for evidence regarding this incident,” according to the review, along with looking over camera recordings.
“The information disseminated on social media has led to erroneous statements and misinformation,” the review stated. “School personnel were aware of a vague threat with no articulable facts or information but immediately began an investigation. … In this instance, we had a comment overheard by one person, relayed to another person that contained no specific articulable facts that was reported to campus adults.”
The incident was actively being addressed and monitored, the district said, and 36 minutes after the incident was known, a call was made to law enforcement citing that there was an active shooter event on campus. This call was made after the initial investigation uncovered no threat but the investigation was still ongoing.
On social media, several parents expressed their concerns about officers blocking the entrance/exit to the school with their vehicles, Barnett said that officers will park where they deem it is safe and necessary.
“Whether they intended to block an entrance or exit, I don’t know specifically, but when officers do stop at what they believe to be an emergent scene, they are going to park their vehicle at a tactical advantage so they can make the best and safest approach,” Barnett explained. “It could have been because they encountered students outside and they wanted to stop at that immediate point and try to garner information from anybody who might be in the general area.”
Aimee Niebuhr was enjoying time with her children at Mary Kyle Hartson Square Park after dropping her child off at what she thought would be a “well-supervised and safe” school dance at Wallace Middle School. But around 6:30 p.m., she saw several police cars race down Center Street, heading to the school.
By the time she arrived, the police cars were blocking the exits and had their lights on. Children were crying.
“It really just created this chaotic scene that I’m sure incited fear in the children,” Niebuhr said. “I witnessed one girl who was really tiny, maybe four foot nine, bawling, ran into the parking lot and was almost hit by an SUV. The little girl was so distraught she didn’t even look, she just ran into the lot.”
“My concern is that the school was not prepared to handle a threat like that because there were not enough adults present to safely monitor the dismissal of that many children,” Niebuhr said. “Furthermore, after talking to my child and several other students that go to the school, they were not informed of what was happening, the lights were turned on, they were all told, ‘Get out call your parents,’ and then they ran out and saw police cars. So, these poor kids who are constantly exposed to trauma in the news, you know, they all, I’ve had several students, including my own child tell me they thought they were about to die. They didn’t know what was happening.”
Jackie Wright said she received a phone call at around 6:45 p.m. from her child telling her to come to pick them up. When she arrived at the school, she saw children outside at the front of the school.
“It’s upsetting,” Wright said. “And one, it’s a big liability because if this were the case, you’re sending them out in a danger zone because it was dark, and who’s to say if this was not a hoax when we’re outside by the doors, waiting to start shooting?”
The review concluded that the origin of the initial information can’t be located and the case is closed with no further action being taken.
