Arlington threats reawakened unhealed wounds, concerns from deadly shooting

ARLINGTON – Arlington Police called threats posted on social media this week terroristic and arrested three people. The unlawful threats, prank or otherwise, sent a jolt of concern to some students at Bowie High School.

"You want to make sure that students are safe. So, when we got the email, I was kind of puzzled about it," Dr. Arthur Drake said. "At the same time, I know that this school works hard to keep our students safe so I wasn't too perplexed about it. But I was concerned."

Drake, a former education administrator in DFW, said he got emails from Bowie High School and Arlington Independent School District. He said his mind went to the deadly shooting on Bowie's campus in late April.

Investigators said 18-year-old Etavion Barnes was killed on campus. Police immediately arrested 17-year-old Julian Howard. He faces a charge of murder.

"We just had a shooting last (school) year," Johnnie Allen said.

Allen has a granddaughter attending Bowie. While concerned, she said shootings and threats have become common.

"It's the time we live in," Allen said. "But it's on the parents."

She went to Bowie's football game Friday night to see her granddaughter on the drill team. Drake came to see his son play football.

The former educator said he talked with his son about reporting anything threatening to Bowie administrators and not succumbing to the street code about snitching.

"Make sure that he's doing what he needs to be vigilant to anything that he may see or hear," Drake said. "Because the one thing I have learned as a former administrator (is) you have to speak out when you see something."