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Incident Overview
In late October, parents of a Lewisville ISD student discovered a video that showed his teammates at Flower Mound Marcus High School dogpiled him in a garage, stripped him of his clothing, and fired a pellet gun at him. The video, approximately forty seconds long, captured the moment the gun was pointed at the student’s torso, arms, and back.
Parents’ Account
The parents, who asked to be identified only as Amy and Doug to protect their son’s identity, said they first learned about the incident in late October. They claimed their son kept the event a secret for five days because he feared the consequences if it became known.
When the video was released, the parents found pellet wounds on their son’s torso, arms and back. ”We have a problem. We have a real big problem here,” said Amy, whose son had recently moved from the JV team to varsity this semester. ”He was so excited.”
Amy added, ”I couldn’t even finish watching the videos. I had to stop it. I was shaking. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
Doug recounted that the incident occurred after a team dinner at a home in Double Oak on October 22. He said about a dozen teammates corralled the student in a garage, dogpiled him, depants-ed him, and then pulled a weapon. He noted that the gun had no orange tip, so the student believed it was a real gun until shots were fired. Doug said the student was struck eight times out of more than forty shots fired. He added that the student screamed for his life about fifteen times.
School Investigation
After learning about the incident, Amy and Doug brought their concerns to Marcus High School leadership and coaches. Six weeks later, they felt the incident was being swept under the rug. They expressed disappointment that Double Oak police had not criminally charged any of the teens, citing a lack of communication, transparency and accountability by Lewisville ISD after the allegations surfaced.
The parents also noted that the boys were called out of class and their parents, and those boys returned to the locker room the next Tuesday morning. They remained at school for two weeks, roaming the halls and discussing how the incident was being made a bigger deal than it actually was.
District Findings
NBC 5 contacted Lewisville ISD for comment and received the findings of a district investigation. The investigation included more than 70 student interviews, more than 20 staff interviews, meetings with 13 parents who came forward with concerns, comprehensive LISD staff email searches, a review of SportsYou messaging app messages between staff and students, and a relevant review of District policies and procedures.
The findings stated: ”The Incident of Concern met the LISD Board Policy FNCC definition of ‘hazing’ and appropriate disciplinary consequences were issued in accordance with the LISD Student Code of Conduct and LISD Extracurricular Code of Conduct.” The findings also stated: ”The Incident of Concern met the LISD Board Policy FFI (Legal) and FFI (Local) definition of ‘bullying’ and appropriate disciplinary consequences were issued.”
The district did not provide details on the punishment. It said it did not find a culture of hazing within the entire Marcus High School Varsity Football Program, but it did find a history of hazing incidents among a specific group of players within the program.
Amy said, ”My once happy-go-lucky kid has been filled with a lot of anxiety, fear, anger, frustration.” Doug and Amy expressed disappointment that 13 families coming forward with concerns was not enough to make personnel changes. They said administrative change is needed and hope speaking up ends what they see as a culture of acceptance.
Corrective Actions
The district’s findings include a list of corrective actions: strengthening existing extracurricular student code of conduct policies, ensuring that all parent-organized MHS team dinners occur on campus with staff supervision, implementing enhanced supervision procedures and schedules for MHS Football locker rooms and team spaces, providing additional training for students and staff on bullying, hazing, and reporting processes, and increasing campus and district administrative support for coaching staff as these improvements are put in place.
Key Takeaways
- A video showed a Lewisville ISD student being shot with a pellet gun by teammates, leading to a district investigation that found hazing and bullying.
- The investigation concluded disciplinary consequences were issued, but no punishment details were released.
- The district announced corrective actions to strengthen policies and supervision, though parents remain dissatisfied with the response.
The incident has highlighted concerns about hazing and bullying within the Marcus High School football program and raised questions about the adequacy of the district’s response and the role of law enforcement in addressing juvenile incidents.
