Student's frightening texts during school shooting: 'Mum, I'm scared'
Heartbreaking text messages between a mother and son have gone viral, depicting the terror felt as an active shooter opened fire at a school in Texas on Wednesday (local time).
The messages between Stella Oigo and her son Tervi went viral within hours of being shared by CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reporter Jason Allen, striking a chord with many parents who admitted they had received similar text messages from their children.
Four people were injured in the shooting, in Arlington, Texas on Wednesday, local time. Three of the injured people were hospitalised and the suspect was taken into custody.
"Mom there's a shooting. Mom help," Tervi texted his mom when the shooting broke out. "Mom I'm scared".
"I'm calling the police," Ms Oigo replied, asking if he was okay.
"idk [I don't know]", Tervi replies.
Mr Allen later commented on his tweet, adding the Oigo family lost a family member to gun violence years ago, which added to the urgency of the messages sent during the shooting.
Texts a mother shared with me from her son, during the shooting at a high school today in Mansfield. Captures the moment well pic.twitter.com/sS6HxpMW9J
— Jason Allen (@CBS11JasonAllen) October 6, 2021
An organisation called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America reposted a screenshot of the texts, writing, "No parent should ever receive a text like this; no child should feel the terror of an active shooter in their school."
"As a Mom, this made me cry. I can not begin to imagine the terror this child and their parents felt," a woman commented on the post.
"How many more families have to be destroyed be it by a death, an injury, or the lasting ptsd before something is done?"
18-year-old taken into custody over shooting
An 18-year-old student opened fire during a fight at his school near Dallas, in Texas on Wednesday (local time), injuring four people and then fleeing the scene.
The Arlington Police Department tweeted the suspected shooter, Timothy George Simpkins was taken into custody without incident. He is now facing three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Authorities believe the shooting happened after two students started fighting in class with Mr Simpkins pulling out a gun.
Videos emerged online following the shooting, showing both the fight leading up to the shooting and inside the classroom as gunshots were going off. However, they've since been removed.
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