As police searched for a suspect in a shooting that injured several students at Wilmer-Hutchins High School, a local nonprofit says it was working with a 17-year-old to turn himself in.

About 1 p.m. Tuesday, a student started shooting after he was let into the southern Dallas school through an unsecured door, according to authorities. At least four students were injured. He was wanted for several hours before turning himself in to authorities.

Urban Specialists, a nonprofit that advocates against violence, played a key role in helping the teen turn himself in to police. Here’s what to know about the organization and how it says it helped the teen.

A helpline call

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Urban Specialists, which runs a helpline, told The Dallas Morning News it received a call Tuesday afternoon from a concerned relative. Antong Lucky, president of the nonprofit, said he talked with the teen at the office, and they went together to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center, where the 17-year-old, Tracy Denard Haynes Jr., surrendered.

Haynes was booked into the Dallas County jail about 9:30 p.m. and is facing a charge of aggravated assault mass shooting. At least four students were injured at Wilmer-Hutchins, which has metal detectors and a clear backpack policy.

“A lot of times, it’s a tough situation,” Lucky said. “We catch a bad rap for that, but we just, we believe in … convincing them to do the right thing. I believe in having that young man to deal with whatever is alleged against him or whatever he’s done — that’s important.”

Working with victims, suspects

Urban Specialists has worked mainly with victims in connection with violence, Lucky said. With offices across the street from Dallas police headquarters, people call the local nonprofit’s helpline for assistance when dealing with violence in their communities, he said.

Lucky noted that Wilmer-Hutchins had dealt with another shooting about a year earlier when a student brought a gun to the campus and shot another student in the leg. He saw the latest as a call to action for violence prevention work inside the school.

Antong Lucky, executive director of Urban Specialists, poses for a portrait at his office in Dallas on Monday, May 9, 2022. Urban Specialists is a nonprofit organization aimed at keeping kids out of urban violence. When Lucky was 14 he was a gang leader at Frazier Courts to protect his neighborhood from a rival neighborhood, Park Row. He was sentenced to prison a few years later and decided he didn’t want that life anymore.(Lola Gomez / Staff Photographer)

The organization is committed to preventing violence among young people. Violence often isn’t caused by a single factor, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and it touches young people in different ways: as victims, offenders and witnesses.

“When you peel back the onion, it’s a lack of love,” Lucky has told The Dallas Morning News. “Young people are not getting the love that they need, the support they need, the resources.”

Leadership in Urban Specialists

As a teen, Lucky founded a gang in southern Dallas, where he grew up. He has said he formed it to protect himself and his community against a rival. He later served time in prison, which Lucky said was a turning point.

“I started to trace how I went from an honor roll student, a student who loved education and had high aspirations, to individuals calling me a menace to society, saying I deserved to be in prison,” he has said.

One day, on the news, Lucky saw Bishop Omar Jahwar, the founder of Urban Specialists, talking about his work in gang intervention and prevention. When Lucky was released from prison in 2000, he told Jahwar about his aspirations to help his neighborhood and mentor kids.

People gather to release balloons during The Kill’n Ain’t Cool Love Walk and balloon release at Glendale Park, Saturday, June 8, 2024, in Dallas. The event hosted by Urban Specialists aimed to create community healing and unity.(Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)

Jahwar founded Urban Specialists in the late ’90s to advocate against senseless violence for kids. Jahwar, presiding bishop of the Kingdom Covenant of Churches and senior pastor of Kingdom WAR Legacy Church, died from COVID-19 complications in 2020.

Organizations provide resources

In addition to the helpline, Urban Specialists works with high schools, juvenile departments and neighborhoods to encourage education, provide mentorship and teach individuals what to look out for regarding urban violence. It has several guiding principles: Integrity, transparency, agility, culture, redemption, collaboration, innovation and spirituality.

Today, Urban Specialists also has a networking hub, where it works to pool resources and connect community resources, along with OGU, a training for influencers to disrupt violence and promote positive change. It also runs the Bishop Omar School of Entrepreneurship, which pushes minority entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

The long-standing, Dallas-based nonprofit is just one of several organizations across Dallas-Fort Worth working to prevent violence, especially among youth.

This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.