On April 24, 2024, 18-year-old student Etavion Barnes was fatally shot outside Bowie High School in Arlington, Texas, at about 2:50 p.m. near a portable classroom building as the school day was ending. School resource officers found Barnes unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds; he was taken to Medical City Arlington and pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

The suspect, 17-year-old Julian Howard, also a Bowie High student, was arrested shortly after the shooting near the school’s baseball field. Howard was unarmed at arrest but had a THC cartridge and was booked on a murder charge; he declined to speak without an attorney. Investigators say Howard specifically targeted Barnes, but the motive remains under investigation and the firearm used has not been recovered.

Arlington ISD canceled classes at Bowie for the rest of the week and offered counseling. Authorities urged community involvement in preventing violence and emphasized securing firearms and reporting concerning behavior. Did anyone at Bowie High see or hear anything that could help investigators establish how a gun was brought onto campus or where it might be now?