Parents waited hours outside of Mesquite charter school following shooting

Students at Oates Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy in Mesquite were the first to inform their parents about the unsettling situation unfolding at their school.

Daneth Castañón recalled feeling scared and immediately called her mom as she was in the classroom adjacent to where the shooting occurred.

Talitha Conner received a text message from her daughter, a senior at the charter school, notifying her about the lockdown and the presence of an active shooter who had not yet been detained.

Other parents, like Rachel Easterly, relied on emergency alerts from the school sent to their cell phones for updates. Rachel’s son, Gage Easterly, who did not have a cell phone, experienced the tense situation firsthand.

“It was pretty scary,” Gage recounted.

According to Mesquite Police, a school administrator reported that a student was in possession of a firearm in an office and refused to surrender it.

“The principal, she was yelling,” Castañón remembered. “It was right outside our classroom. She started yelling to put it down.”

Officers responded swiftly and engaged in negotiations with the armed