Students and teachers rushed out of Wilmer Hutchins High School in protest weeks ago after police said 17-year-old Ja'Kerian Rhodes-Ewing pulled a gun in class and shot another student who beat him up the day before.
Students, parents, and even the superintendent have wanted to know how did he get a gun inside with security and metal detectors at all the doors.
"That weapon made it through the back check and the metal detector. So as a human error, a failure there," said Albert Martinez, Police Chief, Dallas ISD.
Martinez told us Ja 'Kerian arrived at school late, not with the large crowds at the beginning of the day and somehow the staff member still didn't see the gun.
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"There was a disabled metal detector there that was not functioning. For whatever reason, it was still left in place. But that wasn't our issue. They were using the right metal detector and conducting their checks," Martinez said.
We asked Martinez if this situation was like the airport, post 9/11, when we had scanners and security but contraband still wound up on planes.
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"There are times when you're slowing down the line, and trying to be more thorough that you get push, you get pressure, whether from the students or administration, like we need to get this going. So there are those fine-tuning pieces that we need to do to achieve that TSA-level type of screening," he said.
The district has added more staff and is doing stricter training, and Chief Martinez, who is only two months on the job as DISD police chief, says he believes the staff can and will do this job to a TSA level.
We also asked to speak to Dallas ISD Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde Monday about all of this. We were told she was not available.
