Silke Jasso
As another academic year comes to an end, students in two area high schools are keeping things busy – at least for their campus and local police.
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On Tuesday, at George Ranch High School in Richmond, 19-year-old Grayson Harris reportedly brought a gun to school and attempted to instigate a fight between two students.
According to witnesses and authorities, Harris engaged with a student in their car and flashed the butt of his gun after the student refused to exit the vehicle. Officials said Harris continued to threaten students by suggesting he would shoot them and encouraged them to fight.
No one was injured. However, Harris remains at large with a warrant out for his arrest based on the probable cause of his terroristic threat, complete with a $5,000 bond.
As if this situation weren’t enough, on Thursday, four Dekaney High School students were arrested on charges initially related to an aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon at GameStop.
The video game store employee said Cregan Glen, Jaquan Hale and Gregory Butler, all 18 years old, made multiple threats and shoved a gun into his side during the robbery, and the group was able to get away with a “bundle of cash.”
However, thanks to some quick thinking and action, the clerk was able to sneak in a tracking device with the bills that led officers to Dekaney, where the students were arrested within hours of the incident.
Two of the boys fled the scene but were ultimately apprehended as the campus remained in a lock down.
In an interview following, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said they men had guns on campus.
“If they’ve done it once, it’s a possibility they’ve done it multiple times. Any time you get a (gun), that’s coming onto campus, that’s a dangerous combination when you’re talking about students and firearms,” Gonzalez said.
Butler and Glen appeared before a judge following their arrests, where Butler testified that they robbed the store in order to have money for their senior high school trip to Six Flags.
Hale has yet to appear in court, and the fourth student arrested was not charged because he was merely a passenger witness – likely without knowledge or intent to participate in the robbery.
Three of the four boys had been awarded college athletic scholarships prior to their arrests, and while the sheriff’s office could not immediately confirm the student status of the four boys, Spring ISD released the following statement on the situation:
Please be advised that the lockdown has been lifted at Dekaney High School, and the school plans to dismiss around the normal time of 2:30 p.m. Students will be released in groups to avoid releasing all students at once. Bus service will operate as normal. In addition, the precautionary lockdown at Booker Elementary School has been lifted and they will observe a normal dismissal.
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If you or someone you know needs academic financial assistance or mental health services, talk to your local school’s counselors or Newman Center, where there are people and resources that may be able to help.
