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AUSTIN, Texas — Early Wednesday morning, an off-duty Fort Worth police officer was playing an online video game when he overheard 17-year-old Devant Davis-Brooks tell other players he was “going to shoot-up Taylor High School tomorrow.”
The officer contacted the Taylor Police Department about the threat and within hours, Davis-Brooks was arrested.
This is not the first time Davis-Brooks has been arrested for making such threats. He was arrested by Taylor PD in August 2018 for a similar threat made while he was a student at Taylor High School.
Davis-Brooks is now a recent graduate of Taylor HS.
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Taylor ISD released the following letter to parents on Wednesday:
Early this morning, a former student was arrested for making threatening comments about the campus. The comments were made during an online gaming session, and the Taylor Police Department was involved throughout the entire situation. Police quickly investigated the situation and the individual was detained by 7:00 a.m. The individual was never on campus. In under a couple hours the concern of threats shared was resolved to a safe conclusion. I am continually impressed with the response as it relates to campus safety by our local police department.
The case is still under investigation but there is no danger to students or staff. As this investigation is ongoing, we are limited to the details we can provide.
Please know that the safety at our campus and district are of the utmost importance. In an abundance of caution, we have added a number of changes to increase safety through the efforts of our district leadership and campus efforts. This morning the campus was thoroughly examined for any concerning items. In addition, our Superintendent, Mr. Brown, and Deputy Superintendent, Mr. Fausett, both responded to the campus prior to the start of the day
Please know that we take any report that is threatening to our students, staff and campus seriously and we will work closely with local law enforcement to investigate and take appropriate actions.
Please take an opportunity to talk to your student(s) about speaking up if they feel threatened or notice something that does not seem right. There are a couple ways to do this. The first would be to tell a teacher or administrator. If your student does not feel comfortable speaking to a staff member, we have an anonymous tip line called “Crime Stoppers.” This program is sponsored through Williamson County and is used in a number of districts. When submitting a tip, please make sure to give specific information so we can follow up effectively and accurately.
I want your child to be safe and cared for while they are in our care at school. We treat this role seriously. My constant message and expectation is ‘we want your child to be treated how we want our children to be treated.’
Sincerely,
Andrew Maddox
Principal
Students of the school said that when they first heard about the threat, they didn’t take it seriously. That’s because back in August, the three boys who threatened the school — including Davis-Brooks — claimed they were joking.
“Like, my first reaction to it, I laughed about it. Like, I didn’t think it was nothing until they said he was being dead serious explaining what he was gonna do with it,” Ja’rone Carver, a junior at Taylor HS, said.
Community members are just happy to hear that someone reported the threat and stopped it from escalating any further.
“If not people would have gone like, ‘Ooo, he’s kidding,'” Samantha Mascorro, a Taylor resident, said. “For all we know, maybe this was actually a serious thing.