Morgan Andreanna Tukes (Courtesy of Atlanta Public Schools)
ATLANTA -- Hours after 17-year-old Morgan Tukes was scheduled to be released from the Fulton County jail Thursday, she was arrested on a new charge and told she'd have to spend another night there.
She's now been charged in a hit and run case dating back to October of last year.
Tukes is the Grady High School Senior who shot herself in the leg Wednesday in an outdoor courtyard at the Midtown Atlanta school. The judge in her first appearance took note that Tukes apparently had no prior record, and let her out on a signature bond. A signature bond requires no cash. That changed with the new charge, and a new first appearance is scheduled for Friday.
She now remains in the Fulton County jail after being charged Thursday afternoon with the hit and run from October. The police incident report says a City of Atlanta worker was hit by a vehicle that didn't stop. Tukes was, according to police, recognized as the driver of the car.
Atlanta School Superintendent Erroll Davis says that in the incident at the school on Wednesday,Tukes arrived late to school, skipped going through the school's two metal detectors and had someone let her in through a gym door.
Tukes faces misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct, possession of a pistol and disruption of a public school. She's also facing a felony charge of carrying a weapon in a school safety zone.
Tukes was able to make it to the school's medical clinic, where staff called 911. Police said she was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in stable condition.
Grady High was on lockdown for nearly three hours early Wednesday.
The district says the school day started as normal. Students walked through one of two metal detectors.
"They tell you to take your book bag off, take your keys and cell phones out in your bag and then you walk through and they'll wand you down. It's pretty safe," senior Exavier Crutcher said.
"Our schools were not designed to be fortresses, they are designed to be place of learning," Davis said in a press conference after the shooting.
But on Wednesday, students say very little learning took place after the gun went off.
"It's serious that stuff like this goes on in your school, we're just walking around you never know if somebody might go off, might shoot one of us," said Crutcher.
The school went on lockdown, stopping students from getting out, but not the information. Many sent text messages or made phone calls to their parents.
"She called me when this first happened and I dropped what I was doing and I just ran here," said Brunilda Nazirao, who came to the school to pick up her 15-year-old daughter.
"This whole gun culture is so out of control. So disconcerting and its just a sad day for Grady High School. Here at this school, we have kids that are going to change the world and we have kids who are going to be in prison in 10 years. That's the unfortunate thing," said Karen Gaber.
Davis says he's put a new safety plan before the board and believes the district can find the money to hire a full time police officer for every school. He believes if technology can't keep out every gun, maybe relationships can.
"Where they learn the kids, where the kids can confide in them, where they can start to spot emotional problems and issues before they get to this sort of crisis state," said Davis.
At a community meeting Thursday night at the school, the chief of security for the Atlanta Public School System told parents that the plan for police resource officers in every school is one way, long-term, to prevent incidents like this one.
At the meeting, parents praised the way the school responded to the shooting, and praised how well Grady kept parents informed with emails and robo calls.
Chief Marquenta Sands told parents that during her initial review of what happened on Wednesday, she uncovered gaps in the school's security plan.
For example, Chief Sands said she is looking at why students are able to walk outside and then come back in during the school day, after the metal detectors have been shut down for the day.
Many parents said they don't want Grady to become an armed prison camp.
They spoke of their responsibilities in raising their kids so they don't bring guns to school.
"The parents, the people in this room, need to talk to their kids," said one parent to the other parents. "Be open with them. Be honest with them. Tell them, look, this is not the way that you do things."
"I do not believe this is a metal detector issue," said another parent. "This is about this girl, her family, it's not the school's job to raise these children. It's their families' job. It's about the kids, it's about their responsibility. But we really need to be talking to our kids."
Parents also told administrators they were glad their kids used their cell phones to call and text them while they were on lockdown, even though the students were breaking the rules using their cell phones in school.
Parents urged the school board to change that policy.
Chief Sands told parents that in other shooting crises around the country, cell phone calls and texts from inside the facilities have made the situations more dangerous. So, she said, she's going to be looking at that, as she and the Superintendent and the Board try to tighten their overall security plan across the school system.
A member of the Atlanta School Board, Cecily Harsch-Kinnane, told parents that the school board is on the verge of changing the cell phone policy for students, but she was not ready to disclose details. She did say that the new policy would not be more restrictive. She also said it's likely that the board will remove the cell phone ban for elementary and middle school students beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, and require them to observe the same rule that is in place for high school students -- they can keep their cell phones with them during school hours on school property, but the phones must be off.
Also at Thursday night's community meeting:
School administrators said they are installing a system for Grady High School students to make it easy for students to supply anonymous tips about other students who have guns or are violating other laws. Chief Sands said there is evidence that some students may have known the girl in this case had a gun but did not tell anyone.
A school system administrator, David White, the Regional Executive Director of the cluster that includes Grady HS, said the school often calls in police to conduct random weapons and drug sweeps at the school during the school day. White was responding to a parent to asked if police searched the lockers and other areas of the school while the school was on lockdown Wednesday, and White said no, a search was not done then because police were confident after talking with the girl that there was no other threat.
A parent asked if the girl was in a gang. Chief Sands said she is investigating that question, and added that there were possible clues in the girl's social media postings that she might have been involved in a gang. Chief Sands said suppressing gang activity is a priority, and that gangs are a problem city wide, sometimes spilling into school property.
A parent asked the principal, Vincent Murray, if Grady High School's metal detectors have ever caught students with guns, and Murray said, yes, twice.
A parent asked Murray if the girl had a history of problems. Murray said no, "she's not been a troublesome kid, just unfocused."
A parent said her daughter was in a portable classroom during the lockdown, and the substitute teacher could not lock the classroom door. The parent said students were frightened, and some were screaming whenever they thought someone was approaching the door to come in. Chief Sands said the door and the lock will be repaired immediately.
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