Near Miss Report: Police shoot at student inside Mesquite, TX high school

Multiple failures contributed to the situation escalating and three officers firing 19 shots inside Pioneer Technology and Arts Academy.

A “near miss” in aviation is an incident that could've caused physical injury or property loss but didn't. When a near miss happens in an airplane, a report needs to be filed with the FAA within 7 days so that other pilots are aware of what happened. Creating a culture that prioritizes safety above all else means that mistakes are not kept secret, they are documented and openly shared across the aviation industry. (More about my near miss reports for schools)

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On February 19, 2024 at 8:49 am, police were called to Pioneer Technology and Arts Academy in Mesquite, TX for a student with a gun. This call triggers an “active shooter” response with all available patrol officers responding to the school.

In the 911 call from the school principal, she says there is a student with a gun, she has calmed him down, and he is sitting alone in the school office with the gun in front of him on the floor. This is critical information because this situation was not an active shooter. It was a teen in crisis with a weapon in a contained area of the school.

Because the student is calm and alone in an office with a single door, there is no immediate danger to other students. At this early point, there are three ways a student with a gun can end:

1. Student surrenders

2. Student commits suicide

3. Officer(s) shoot the student (with lethal or less lethal weapons)

After officers arrive with guns drawn and confront the student in the school office, the situation quickly escalates adding three new risks:

• Officer(s) is shot by the student

• Officer(s) is shot by another officer during uncoordinated movement into the line of fire

• Staff or students are struck by bullets that penetrate the walls

Based on the 911 call, CCTV footage, body camera footage from the officers, and my knowledge from studying 2,700 shootings at schools, I will breakdown three phases of this incident with what happened, critical actions for police to take, and what could be done differently before officers fired 19 shots (all missed) at the student. The three officers who fired shots worked as police officers for 8 years, 5 years, and 5 years.

Note: Like the Nashville school shooting police body camera footage, the video released by Mesquite, TX police has been altered to remove the time stamps and identifying information about the officers. The time shown in the released footage is less than the full duration of this incident.

Incident phases:

1. Pre police arrival

2. Police arrive in office

3. Police fire at the armed student

Based on my analysis, this was a near miss even though the shooter was not killed and no other students were injured because of the potential for loss of life and injury.