Parents at Porter High School demand answers after classmate shot to death outside his home
New Caney ISD said the boy shot to death in the Kings Mill community of Kingwood was a student in its district.
KINGWOOD, Texas (KTRK) -- The unthinkable murder of a 14-year-old boy who goes to Porter High School has left his family and community shaken.
The teen lives in the Kings Mill subdivision with his sibling, mom and stepdad, who is a Houston police sergeant.
Just before 8:30 p.m. Monday, neighbors reported hearing gunfire.
"Pop-pop and my wife said, 'Man, I hope that's fireworks' and I said, 'I don't know baby, that doesn't sound like fireworks,'" said neighbor Danny Cosmi. "Ten minutes later she was like.. 'There's police everywhere.'"
Video from overnight shows investigators taping off an area on the backside of some homes near a walking path in the neighborhood. In the daylight, neighbors and classmates brought flowers and candles to the location where a woman found a 14-year-old lying on the sidewalk.
The woman told police she heard gunshots while she was on an evening walk and saw two men run from the area. She kept walking, and that's when she found the teenager on the ground, unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds.
According to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, the victim is the stepson of an HPD sergeant. Both the sheriff's office and Justice of the Peace Jason Dunn have so far refused to officially release the identity of the victim, which is public information.
But that has not stopped worried parents and students from talking about the teen and the events that preceded his death.
"At the homecoming dance, my daughter called me at 9:30 p.m. and asked me to get her," said Shannon Havens, whose daughters went to Porter High School and rode the bus daily with the victim. "She had heard some guns were there, and 30 minutes after we picked her up, there was supposed gunfire and they're trying to say there were balloons popping."
Social media videos examined by ABC13 show teens scrambling and running away from high school. Several students have told ABC13 that the altercation at the school continued to simmer, and that's why they did not attend classes on Monday.
New Caney ISD says it does not know if the tensions during the school dance are linked to the shooting, deferring the investigation to the sheriff's department. The district only confirmed that the teen killed was a student in the district.
"We are deeply saddened by this news," the district said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the student's family at this time."
The police department further confirmed the teen's death, adding, "The family asks for prayers & that their privacy be respected in their time of grief."
"Pretty much, all the parents believe it's related," said Havens. "My oldest is pretty scared, she doesn't want to go to school. My second one, she doesn't know what to think."
Now, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information to contact their department.
