Boy Shot at School Hours After In-Person Classes Resumed Dies

Authorities believe Arkansas shooting was targeted, not random
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 4, 2021 12:16 AM CST
Boy Shot at School Hours After Students Returned to Campus Dies
Traffic is lined up Monday March 1, 2021 outside Watson Chapel Junior High School in Pine Bluff, Ark. as parents pick up students after a shooting at the school.   (Staton Breidenthal/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

A 15-year-old boy shot at an Arkansas junior high school earlier this week died Wednesday, officials said. Lt. David DeFoor, Pine Bluff police spokesman, confirmed the death Wednesday night, citing the Pulaski County Coroner's Office in Little Rock, the AP reports. A deputy at the coroner's office referred inquiries back to Pine Bluff police. The boy, identified by his family and the Watson Chapel School District as Daylon Burnett, died after two days under intensive care at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock.

Earlier Wednesday, a judge set a $1 million bond for the 15-year-old boy accused of shooting his classmate at Watson Chapel Junior High School in Pine Bluff, about 40 miles southeast of Little Rock. The suspect, whose name police were withholding because he is a juvenile, remained in Jefferson County's juvenile detention center charged with first-degree battery. A homicide charge has yet to be filed. He was scheduled at the Wednesday morning bond hearing for an April 12 court date. Authorities have said they believe the shooting, which took place just hours after in-person learning resumed, was targeted, not random, but they don't yet know a motive.

(More Arkansas stories.)

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