Candlelight service celebrates the life of student fatally shot outside Bowie High School

People from all over the Arlington community filled the seats Friday evening at St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church.

Words of comfort were offered, prayers were made, and songs of worship were sung to honor the life of 18-year-old Etavion Barnes.

The community, the victim’s family, and the Bowie High School student body are not alone in the grieving of Barnes, as the church offers their support, and he can be remembered as a light that continues to shine.

To the church, when one person in the community suffers, everyone suffers.

Pastors and the church’s praise team led a community prayer service and a lighting of the candles Friday, inviting people to grieve and stand in solidarity following the act of violence that took Barnes’ life.

Barnes was killed after he was shot five or six times by another student, 17-year-old Julian Howard, according to Arlington police.

Bowie High School was placed on lockdown Wednesday, and students were kept there for over two hours as authorities were investigating the shooting and secured the campus.

Barnes was shot near a portable classroom, and Howard was taken into custody near the school. The motive for the shooting is under investigation, but police believe the victim and the suspect knew each other.

The church made prayers for Barnes and his family to offer hope and peace. But they also prayed for Bowie High students and faculty, encouraging compassion for each other, friendship, and kindness.

Tina Plunkett, whose children graduated from Bowie High, says she is grateful for the church family and the community, but is saddened to see “so much violence.”

“I can’t imagine being a teacher these days. I can’t imagine being a law enforcement officer these days. It’s terrifying,” said Plunkett.

She never feared her children would encounter gun violence when they were attending Bowie High, but to Plunkett, things have escalated.

“I think before it was just the fear that they’re going to high school, they’re gonna be with the older kids, what are they gonna see,” said Plunkett. “These days, there’s so much out there that the kids have to deal with ... and they’re torn in so many different ways.”

Bowie High sophomore Elizabeth Hyden says Barnes’ passing has been rough on students and teachers.

“You never expect that it’s gonna happen to you,” said Hyden. “Something that you always see over the news or you just hear that it happens, but you never expect that it’s really gonna happen.”

Hyden and her classmate Nalani Patterson say they cannot see themselves and the school moving forward, rather, they feel the need to take extra precaution.

“Going back to school... I don’t know how I feel really,” said Patterson. “I hope that the school can move maybe not past it, but through it.”

The students say Bowie High needs to revamp their security.

“We need more security. We need just more precautions in general, considering our student safety,” said Hyden. “We do have the metal detectors, but I definitely think that we can go above that to prevent something like this happening again.”

But a Bowie High teacher who spoke anonymously to the Star-Telegram on Wednesday says the security at the school is not taken seriously.

“I’m not surprised that this happened. It’s been a very mismanaged school for several years, and the security is a joke and nobody does their job,” said the teacher.

The teacher said they have been trying to get the school’s administration to “crack down” on security this school year, including checking that the students wear their IDs and show their IDs to get into the building.

“It’s not a safe building,” said the teacher. They added that the metal detectors at the school are not as effective as they should be.

“They can be successful ... but it’s very easy to sneak something in, very easy, especially at the beginning of the day when a bunch of kids are going through them. It’s not monitored really,” the teacher said.

The church also wants to point to resilience in the face of this tragedy and does not want Bowie High to be defined by the shooting.

The prayer service was concluded with the lighting of the candles, symbolizing the light that Barnes was and the outpouring of love and support from the community.