DALLAS — The teen who opened fire inside Wilmer-Hutchins High School last year was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday morning for injuring a classmate.
Eighteen-year-old Ja’Kerian Rhodes-Ewing pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawfully carrying a firearm in connection with the April 12, 2024, shooting. He faced up to 20 years in prison.
Rhodes-Ewing, then 17, brought a revolver into the Dallas ISD campus — despite security measures like a metal detector, clear backpacks and bag check — and fired inside a classroom. A student was struck in the thigh, authorities said in an arrest-warrant affidavit. Police said Rhodes-Ewing injured the classmate “intentionally.”
A Dallas ISD police official at the time attributed the security lapse to human error and systems failure and pledged to beef up student safety.
The teen fled the school and was later taken into custody near the school’s stadium. He has remained jailed in lieu of $200,000 bail, records show.
