‘Personal to all of us’: Mid-Del Superintendent Gives Update After Shots Ring Out at Game

DEL CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Mid-Del Schools released an update on Wednesday after shots rang out following a basketball game against Millwood on Tuesday night.

Mid-Del Superintendent Rick Cobb said the shots were fired during a fight in the gym lobby. Cobb said nobody involved in the fight were students in his district.

“While a lot of people had already left because the game had concluded there were still several hundred people still inside the facility at that time,” said Major Brad Cowden with the Del City Police Department. “Once officers were able to get the majority of the people out of the building, that’s when they determined there was also a crime scene outside where an additional shooting had occurred, we believe that it was a continuation of the one that occurred inside.”

Cobb said as people moved out into the parking lot, the fight continued and more shots were fired.

One person was shot, police say their injuries are non-life threatening,

“We checked with our administration at Del City High School and we determined that there were no Del City students injured as a result of the incident,” Cowden said. “We can’t confirm for sure whether or not they were a student simply because we don’t have that information from the Millwood high school yet”

The person who was hit was taken to the hospital in a personal car. Cobb said that person has no affiliation with either school district.

Police are also investigating two other people who also have no affiliation with Del City High School or its community.

They say their investigation is currently very active.

“We’re attempting to piece together surveillance video, there’s been a lot of social media postings and witnesses and things. Obviously, given the circumstances of the incident, a lot of the witnesses that we had fled out of safety concerns,” Cowden said, “So we’re attempting to locate as many witnesses as we can, that would have seen the incident.”

“While this violence was not targeted at our school or at our people, it happened at our school at our event,” Cobb wrote in a letter to families on Wednesday. “That makes it personal to all of us.”

Cobb said the police investigation has been “fast and thorough” and his district is assisting in the process.

“We talk all the time about how important it is to keep people safe. With what we’ve learned from last night, it seems like our game happened to be the venue chosen by people who have no connection to the school to cause trouble,” Cobb wrote. “Five officers were nearby when the first shots were fired. We could have had twice that on hand and it wouldn’t have deterred these people.”

Cobb said the district is reviewing its procedures and will announce updates soon.

“We focus on safety and security, but we can always be better,” Cobb said. “And no matter what we put in place, following procedures with fidelity is critical.”

After a day of virtual learning, Cobb said the district will be back in-person on Thursday.

“We will help the people who were traumatized by Tuesday night’s events, and we will move forward,” Cobb said.

He also doesn’t want the incident to cast a bad light on the district.

“Anyone who tries to paint our kids or our schools with a broad brush because of what happened last night simply doesn’t get who we are,” Cobb said. “Let’s be vigilant about keeping each other safe, but let’s also be intentional about lifting each other.”

In the wake of the incident, Millwood Public Schools announced event protocol changes of its own. The district decided to institute a policy prohibiting any minor not accompanied by an adult from any of their final three home games of the season. Millwood students may attend with a school ID.