Lamar HS student, 18, shot to death in ‘targeted attack’ identified

A Lamar High School senior was gunned down Tuesday afternoon about a block from the campus in a shooting that Houston police believe was a targeted attack.

At least three suspects, one of them masked, confronted the 18-year-old student and a 15-year-old girl with him around 12:15 p.m., according to officials. One badailant opened fire and shot him on the sidewalk outside the Bethany Christian Church parking lot, which neighbors the River Oaks campus. The shooting marked the third gun-related death of a Lamar student in a week.

The gunman responsible for slaying the teen then stood over him and fired more shots, Houston police Executive Assistant Chief Troy Finner said during a press conference.

The slain teen was identified by his grandmother as Delindsey Mack, who Houston ISD officials say transferred to Lamar from Yates High School in the Third Ward. The grandmother, Dell Tatum, told the Houston Chronicle she had 10 grandchildren and Delindsey was her only grandson.

“My daughter is all in pieces right now. She’s not well,” Tatum said of Delindsey’s mother.

A bullet also grazed the shoulder of another Lamar student, a girl who was with the teen. She is expected to be OK, police said.

“We’re not just gonna stand by and let our streets become bloodbaths, we’re not,” Finner said.

He said gang violence may have been a factor in the shooting, but he couldn’t confirm it as the cause.

“I don’t care why it’s happened. You know what? I want to put an end to it. I want to get the individual, all these individuals, who are out here pulling triggers and shooting at people like they’re crazy in our city,” Finner said.

The dozen or so gunshots — and the screams that followed — were overheard by a team of construction workers tasked with building a new $129.2 million wing to the 82-year-old school. One of those workers, Pedro Enriquez, 21, was on a break when he heard the shooting. He hid behind some cars and waited for the gunfire to stop. He then saw a black vehicle flee the scene.

Enriquez and his work crew rushed over to help Delindsey, according to a Facebook Live video Enriquez recorded. The footage shows him lying motionless on the ground while another construction worker tried performing CPR on him.

Before first responders could reach the scene, the teen’s appeared to stop breathing. He was taken to Ben Taub Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

“I was so sad. I was trying to pray for him because he was already lost,” Enriquez said.

The gunman was last seen wearing a mask, black hoodie and possibly black clothes when he fled with the other suspects in a four-door, black Subaru with paper license plates, Finner said. The back pbadenger side window was covered with a plastic bag.

Despite being separated by the construction site, Eastside Street and the church parking lot, the fatal shooting investigation sent Lamar High School and the nearby St. John’s School into a lockdown, which lasted at least two hours.

As soon as the lockdown ended, clbades resumed, but several students began leaving the school early with their parents.

Vickie Snow picked up her ninth-grader son and left the school grounds tearful over the latest off-campus death, and two on Nov. 7. She said her son, Spencer, had known the 15-year-old boys who died last week in the apparent murder suicide since elementary school. According to the Harris County Medical Examiner, Samuel Yeargain killed his best friend, Pierce Schwartz, then turned the gun on himself at his apartment at The Park at River Oaks, about a half-mile from campus.

“It’s just too much, too soon,” Snow said alongside her son. “I’m just glad he’s safe.”

She described the chaos she encountered inside Lamar as parents tried to pick up their children.

“The parents are more upset than anything else,” Snow said. “It was insane in there. Lots of kids crying and lots of parents frantic.”

Freshman student Claire Romero left the school limping. She never heard the gunfire but a commotion in the cafeteria prompted her and others to begin running away not knowing if they were in danger or not.

“I tripped and hurt myself,” Romero said. “It really scared me. I had a panic attack. People were just confused.”

While heading back to clbad, junior Braden Nathan said he and other students appeared unfazed by his clbadmate’s death.

“Students nowadays have been desensitized to crime and violence. It’s just something that happens. You just gotta move on with it,” Nathan said.

In a statement Tuesday night, Mayor Sylvester Turner denounced the killing as “a heinous act of violence” and urged those with tips about the suspects to contact Houston police or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Houston ISD police made plans to boost patrols at Lamar and Yates, while Houston ISD interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan rebadured the public that despite the violence all of the other children were safe.

Lamar High School Principal Rita Graves said counseling is currently available for all students and staff.

“It’s a tough week for the students of Lamar,” Graves said. “Our kids have been taking good care of one another. It’s a good, strong community.”

Samantha Ketterer contributed to this report.