Crime-scene probe keeps downtown campus closed
Cummings Middle School students will attend classes today at Daniel Breeden Elementary after classmate Jaime Gonzalez was killed Wednesday morning in a tragic shooting at the school.
Gonzalez, who was 15, died at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday after being rushed to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Brownsville immediately after the shooting at 8 a.m. in the main hall near the principal’s office at Cummings. BISD said Cummings would remain closed today for crime-scene investigation purposes.
Reviewing BISD’s response to Wednesday’s events, Superintendent Carl A. Montoya, himself a certified police officer, said the district responded appropriately when Gonzalez was found to be carrying a pistol and immediately contacted police. The Brownsville Police Department is blocks away from Cummings, so officers arrived quickly.
He said every school has an emergency plan to make sure that students are safe and that perhaps these plans will be reviewed as BISD evaluates its response to Wednesday’s events.
The district’s crisis counseling team will be available today at Breeden and in the following days at Cummings to students faculty and staff, Montoya said. In addition, counselors will be available at all BISD schools to anyone who wants to talk about Wednesday’s events.
The construction of Breeden Elementary, 3955 Dana Road, has been completed, but the school is currently vacant. It is scheduled to open in August.
Students who are bused to Cummings will be taken to and from Breeden from their regular bus stops. Students who walk to Cummings will be taken to and from Breeden from the Cummings campus by bus. BISD is asking parents who provide their own transportation to drop off and pick up students today at Breeden.
Classes will resume at Cummings on Friday.
As soon as school officials realized what was happening Wednesday morning, Cummings Principal Edward Ude announced via the public address system that the school was being placed under standard lockdown. Law enforcement officers then searched the school, room by room, Montoya said. The lockdown was lifted at 9:50 a.m.
District officials then made the decision to move Cummings Middle School’s 750 students to Porter High School, the nearest place with adequate facilities, including the ability to feed the students. Then, working out of Porter’s small gymnasium, they began releasing students to their parents.
“You can’t just release 750 students,” Montoya said, noting that each child has a student release form listing family members or others to whom the child can be released. Those directives had to be followed, he said.
Throughout the process, BISD’s main priorities were to protect the safety of students and staff — and to get out accurate information to parents worried about their children, district spokeswoman Drue Brown said.
Montoya said every school has an emergency plan to make sure that students are safe. He said the plans might be reviewed as BISD evaluates how well it responded to Wednesday’s events.
