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Texas can’t stop school shootings just by hardening buildings

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Texas can’t stop school shootings just by hardening buildings


The recent rash of student-involved shootings in North Texas has left families rattled and some school districts scrambling to assuage them. Yet this spate of violence hasn’t drawn national attention, in part because these shootings appear to be targeted, involving only a couple of students. One student at Arlington ISD’s Bowie High School was killed, but the victims in the other two incidents in Dallas are expected to recover, including two students injured off campus in a drive-by shooting.

Parents and students in the affected districts are owed detailed answers about how students were able to sneak guns into school. But while heightened safety measures have become necessary, these shootings should also drive home the point that simply “hardening” campuses can’t fix a culture of violence fueled by easy access to guns and an addiction to social media.

School violence is just a fact of American life, almost as commonplace as tests, football and prom. In the 2021-22 school year, 61% of public schools recorded at least one physical fight or attack without a weapon. About 4% of schools — that’s 3,700 campuses — reported at least one attack with a weapon.

That data comes from the latest federal survey on school crime and safety by the National Center for Education Statistics. It captures only violence that happens in school, though some conflicts follow students off campus.

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Gun use in school is also on the rise, even as it remains rare. Everytown, a gun-safety advocacy group, logged 51 incidents of guns discharged on school grounds across the U.S. in 2013, the first year it began tracking that data. Last year, it recorded 137 incidents and 42 deaths.

Things are looking bad this year, too. As of last week, Everytown’s database had tallied 63 incidents of gunfire and 24 dead as a result.

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School fights are not what they were when we were growing up. Many of them are filmed with cellphones and often end up on TikTok or Snapchat, where they are shared for social currency.

Meanwhile, lawmakers at the state and federal level have not just resisted passing sensible gun-safety laws — think universal background checks — but they have also made it easier for anyone to carry a firearm. Texas joined several other states in passing permitless carry three years ago.

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Texas state legislators have pushed through a spate of school safety regulations in recent years. Among the requirements are having an armed guard at every school, installing panic buttons in classrooms and training certain district employees to recognize students who need mental health support.

Texans can keep trying to fortify their schools even more, but the violence won’t stop at the school doors. We have to send our children out into the world, and we cannot enclose them in a protective bubble. We’ll continue to fail them as long as we focus on hardening schools while leaving untouched this country’s culture of violence and a gun-rights absolutism that enable each other in a nasty loop.

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com



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Ted Cruz warns Talarico has ‘real chance’ to flip Texas’ U.S. Senate seat

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Ted Cruz warns Talarico has ‘real chance’ to flip Texas’ U.S. Senate seat


HOUSTON, TEXAS – MAY 27: Democratic Senate Candidate James Talarico speaks at a rally at Rich’s Houston on May 27, 2026 in Houston, Texas. Talarico held the rally after the primary runoff and to explain his plan on how he will take on Republican nominee Ken Paxton. (Photo by Danielle Villasana/Getty Images)



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Texas reports 48 cyclospora cases and the source is still unknown

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Texas reports 48 cyclospora cases and the source is still unknown


Texas has reported 48 cases of Cyclospora, a foodborne illness caused by a parasite that health experts say can lead to severe gastrointestinal symptoms.

Dr. David Winter, an internal medicine physician with Baylor Scott & White, said cyclospora infections typically increase during the summer. However, he said the current increase affecting several states could become the worst in years.

At least 20 people nationwide have been hospitalized with symptoms that can last for weeks.

“It’s really bad disease right now and sometimes you get in your intestines and that gives you these horrible cramps and gurgling and then diarrhea. In fact, the diarrhea is so bad, they call it explosive diarrhea,” Winter said.

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Cyclospora is caused by a parasite rather than a virus or bacteria. Winter said the parasite multiplies inside the intestines, contributing to recurring symptoms.

“It’s a parasite. It’s not a virus, it is not bacteria. So the parasite, once it gets in your intestine, it starts to multiply. And then when it builds up a certain amount, then it comes out with this explosion, and then it starts multiply again,” Winter said.

The illness spreads through food or water contaminated with infected feces and is rarely transmitted from person to person.

The source of the current outbreak is unknown. Previous outbreaks have been linked to fresh fruits and vegetables, including basil, cilantro, raspberries and snow peas.

Doctors recommend thoroughly washing fresh produce before eating it to help reduce the risk of infection.

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For many people, symptoms can be managed at home, and antibiotics are also effective, according to Winter.

He said patients with severe diarrhea should let their doctor know about their symptoms because many routine stool tests do not automatically screen for cyclospora.

“Most stool tests in laboratories don’t look for this. So you want to be sure and tell your doctor, I’ve got this, quote, explosive diarrhea. I’m cramping, I feel like hell, I have all this fatigue,” Winter said.

While the infection is uncommon, Winter said it can be especially difficult for those who become sick.

“It’s rare, but boy when you get it, it is tough,” Winter said.

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This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.



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Family demands investigation after US man killed by ICE agent in Texas

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Family demands investigation after US man killed by ICE agent in Texas


The family of a man killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Texas has called for an investigation into the incident.

The appeal on Wednesday came a day after the ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston during a traffic stop, the most recent high-profile killing by immigration enforcement agents amid the administration of US President Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive.

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Salgado Araujo’s family said he was working at the time he was killed, driving a crew to a home build in the area. They said he may have been scared that the individuals in the unmarked vehicles that stopped him were trying to steal his tools.

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They further said the Mexican national had lived in the US for 35 years and was working towards getting legal status. He had no criminal record and worked tirelessly to support his three US sons, all US citizens.

“He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of ‘Mexican man shot and killed by ICE’,” son Ronaldo Salgado said during a news conference.

“He deserved to live a quiet life as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a husband, a father and a job creator for dozens of men who also wanted the American dream,” he said.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said Salgado Araujo attempted to ram an ICE agent, who opened fire in response. Prior to that, they said Salgado Araujo’s car had struck an ICE vehicle.

No video or images of the incident have been released, although a bystander recorded its aftermath.

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DHS said Salgado Araujo had been targeted by the agents because he was living in the US without documentation.

While the Trump administration had initially said it would only target criminals in its mass deportation push, it quickly said that it considered anyone in the US without documentation a criminal. Irregularly entering the US is a civil, not a criminal, violation.

Rights groups have accused immigration agents of using “dragnet” techniques under pressure to meet detainment quotas. The Trump administration has denied such quotas exist.

Speaking at the news conference on Wednesday, League of United Latin American Citizens President Roman Palomares said the immigration crackdown has created a country where it is “open season on Latinos” by officers who think they can “shoot and explain later”.

The initial details of the Texas killing resemble the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota in January. DHS officials initially said that Good, a US citizen, was attempting to ram an ICE agent when she was fatally shot, although video appeared to show her steering around the agent, who opened fire after stepping to the side of her vehicle.

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Just days later, 37-year-old Alex Pretti was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent and a Customs and Border Protection officer as he sought to document immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis.

Little has emerged from federal probes into the killings, which came amid an enforcement surge in the city. In a rare move, the Department of Justice declined a separate civil-rights probe into Nicole Good’s killing.

‘Working to give us the American dream’

Speaking at the news conference on Wednesday, Ronaldo Salgado recounted frantically looking for his father at his job site after his mother had been told something bad had happened.

At some point during the search, he was shown the video of his fatally wounded father.

“I recognised him, not from his appearance but from his voice crying for help as he lay on the street,” Salgado said.

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“After nearly 35 years of working to give us the American dream, he made the choice to begin the process of obtaining his American dream through a work permit,” Salgado said.

“We dotted every I, crossed every T, filled every document, and attended every appointment. He was close to obtaining his legal status.”

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum also condemned the killing, saying she was considering legal measures or an appeal to the United Nations.

“There has been another tragic death of one of our compatriots in the United States due to detention issues, even though their only ‘offence’ is not yet having proper documentation,” Sheinbaum said.

The shooting was at least the eighth known death during an encounter with federal immigration officers since the start of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

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