March 7th Timeline

March+7th+Timeline

2:47 p.m.

Shots fired in the student parking lot.

“I was outside in the parking lot when I heard gunshots go off,” senior Jaida Howard said.

2:50 p.m.

East High School went on lockdown.

“I was actually walking past my windows and both saw and heard the gunshots. I didn’t quite process what I saw or heard, but I sent a text to admin and we went into lockdown not even two minutes after I sent the text,” teacher Kortny Williamson said.

2:51 p.m.

Police and ambulance arrived to the scene.

“Being venerable to the situation, making sure kids were not trying to visit the situation, giving students hugs making sure they’re okay and then when the ambulance and police came, I felt support and we had support from everyone,” Campus monitor Jontay Williams said.

2:59 p.m.

DMPD first reports the shooting.

“When I first heard about the shooting all I was thinking was how do I help my students and staff? What do I need to do? Where do I need to be? How can I help? Do I need to get back to the building? But, they wouldn’t let me back into the building because everything was locked down. So, knowing that the procedures were in place, I feel confident that the people in the building were safe and that was my biggest concern,” Campus Monitor Brian Connelly said.

3:30 p.m.

The lockdown was lifted.

“I was there, I felt lost, in shock and in disbelief because your life can be gone instantly. I wish I had known CPR because maybe I couldn’t have saved his life but I could have rushed and at least helped,” senior Mohamed Saidu said.

3:31 p.m.

Local media releases some details about the shooting at East High school.

“My first thought was I hope everyone is safe, my daughter is a senior this year and my youngest daughter will be a freshman next year, and I’m always asked ‘why you don’t send them anywhere but East?’ and I tell them ‘East is a culture you wouldn’t understand unless you’ve walked the halls and experienced it yourself.’ People already have a bad mindset towards East, that they’re a bad school full of gangs, drugs and crime when it is the complete opposite. In East’s darkest hour, you saw the epitome of #scarletstrong, students, faculty, community all united because of their belief in what East High School is to them,” Alumni Frank Lopez said.

3:45 p.m.

Staff meeting was held in the cafeteria

I had an overwhelming feeling of the fear of the unknown. At the time we did not know exactly what happened, who was involved and what the outcome was going to be. I also had a feeling of “what did we do wrong?” “Could we have done something different and prevented the incident?” I think everyone was having those types of thoughts but, as a safety coordinator in the building, I was feeling a large amount of blame on my shoulders. It was wonderful to see everyone come together to find comfort in each other. We all came together to process, grieve and talk through what kind of things we need from each other. It was a great time to lean on each other and strengthen our bond as coworkers,” Restoration and Safety Coordinator Molly Girsch said.

8:01 p.m.

Victims information was released to the public.

“When I saw the victims names released it was sad because we are all so young and lead to someone losing their life,” freshman Kylee Ashley said.