A Dallas Kimball basketball player has been arrested and kicked off the team after a student-trainer was shot on the team bus in San Antonio Wednesday night, according to the Dallas Independent School District.
The team is in San Antonio for the high school basketball semi-final championship game Thursday night.
Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said Thursday morning that the 18-year-old female student trainer was shot in or near the ankle, underwent surgery and that she is with her parents returning to Dallas.
"The only thing I can say to that family is we apologize," Hinojosa said Thursday morning. "There are no excuses for this."
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
The trainer was shot Wednesday after the team held a practice at a Northside ISD gym and had boarded their charter bus to go to dinner.
Reports indicate a gun was in a bag and was likely discharged while being moved in the bag, but the investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"We don't know if it was an accident, but that gun should have never been anywhere in the possession of any student, especially on the bus," Hinojosa said. "I am saddened that one of our own students chose to take a firearm on the team bus. That is just unexplainable and inexcusable."
The 18-year-old student police said was responsible for bringing the gun, identified by the San Antonio Police as Kyron Sid Henderson, was arrested.
Hinojosa said Henderson was immediately removed from the school's basketball team.
The superintendent said the district will discipline the student to the full extent of their policies but that because he is a legal adult "there are much bigger things that he has to worry about that are legal matters, that are criminal matters."
Henderson is in the Bexar County Jail on a $55,000 bond and is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony. He also faces a charge of possession of a firearm on school premises, a third-degree felony.
Hinojosa said because of the swift action taken by both DISD and the San Antonio Police, the University Interscholastic League has allowed the team to continue in the playoffs.
Hinojosa, a former teacher and coach, said it’s the right call to make.
“This is a sad day for Dallas ISD. There’s no getting around it, but also you‘ve got to think about these students who’ve worked so hard and their coaches,” he said. “Being a classroom teacher for as long as I was, it was not appropriate to punish the class because one of the students was acting up."
The district leader also commended the other student-athletes for cooperating with the investigation.
"I do appreciate that the person was identified quickly because sometimes students won't tell on each other," Hinojosa said. "But I'm glad that the San Antonio Police got some resolution so that these kids that had nothing to do with it can go compete."
Hinojosa said students' bags are not checked because authorities trust them to do the right thing. This code of honor may be changed based on this incident, he said.
Dallas Kimball is scheduled to tip-off against Beaumont United at 7 p.m.
