Bags, backpacks banned at high school sporting events after basketball game shooting

As police announced the arrest of a teenager in a shooting at a high school basketball game in Dallas that injured two people, educators on Monday expressed outrage over a surge in gun violence in the city and said they will immediately take unprecedented action to boost security at school sporting events.

a man wearing a military uniform: Superintendent Michael Hinojosa of the Dallas Independent School District to hold a press conference on a shooting that broke out at a high school basketball game in Dallas over the weekend.
© WFAA Superintendent Michael Hinojosa of the Dallas Independent School District to hold a press conference on a shooting that broke out at a high school basketball game in Dallas over the weekend.
Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said the violence that erupted at the basketball game signaled a long-held "truce" has been broken in the city that school sporting events and other extracurricular activities were off-limits as venues for settling feuds.

"That truce is now over because it spilled over to our campus which makes this even more difficult," Hinojosa said at a news conference.

a group of people in a room: In this still from a video, people run after a shooting broke out at a high school basketball game in Dallas over the weekend.
© WFAA In this still from a video, people run after a shooting broke out at a high school basketball game in Dallas over the weekend.
Moving forward, security protocols for high school sporting events in the city will be "significantly" tightened, he said. Beginning on Tuesday, no bags, purses or backpacks will be allowed in any sports arena and spectators will have to either pass through metal detectors or be checked with metal-detecting wands before attending any game.

The incident mirrors a national trend of shootings at school sporting events. An investigation published in December by ABC News found that of the more than two dozen school shootings in the United States in 2019, 57.6% occurred at the end of or during sporting events, specifically basketball and football games.

"Yes, we want kids to be involved and so we're going to have to make some adjustments because of this crisis," said Hinojosa, referring to a surge in gun violence in Dallas that has left seven victims dead in the first two weeks of 2020, including a 1-year-old boy killed when someone fired a rifle into his bedroom window.

Hinojosa said the basketball game that was interrupted by gunfire on Saturday night is to resume on Monday afternoon at a neutral site, but will not be open to the public.

"The students have been allowed to invite their parents and we will be there so that these students can finish this game that has very high stakes for them as they try to pursue a state basketball championship," Hinojosa said.

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