Students warned about gunfire near Sunset High School in Dallas

A Dallas high school principal is warning parents about a group of people who tried to lure two students and then fired a gun into the air.

In a letter to parents, Sunset High School Principal Claudia Vega said the incident happened early Wednesday near the school in north Oak Cliff.

The students were reportedly leaving lunch and going to classrooms across the street when a car approached them.

When the students kept walking, someone in the car fired a gunshot into the air as they drove off into the alley.

"Characters like that shouldn’t be around the school," one student said. "Makes me question security." 

Although no one was hurt, the school and police are taking the incident seriously.

Dallas police stepped up patrols in the area, while Sunset is revising its policy for students who have to walk across the street.

"[Dallas PD] immediately had patrols out there, along with our own,” said Stephanie Elizalde, DISD’s chief of school leadership.

Elizalde said she is hoping there will be a way to permanently keep kids on campus during the school day.

“Hindsight being what it is, we are going to look at it," she said. "I am trying to see if there is a way to reconfigure the current space at the school.“

The Sunset High principal also asked parents to talk to their children about walking with a friend and avoiding strangers.

This is just the latest disturbing incident near a Dallas middle or high school in recent weeks. There have been six armed robberies of students near Kimball and Roosevelt high schools, as well as Holmes and Stockard middle schools, since last month.

Police released pictures of a car used in the crimes. It is believed to be a black Chevrolet Cruze. They also released a picture of a man believed to be part of the group robbing students. He’s described as a light-skinned black man in his early 20s. He has tattoos on his arms and neck.

All of the victims have been Hispanic. The suspects have taken their cellphones at gunpoint.

Police are also trying to determine if the same people are behind the robbery of a woman in suburban Cockrell Hill Monday night. They drove up next to her and demanded her backpack, cellphone and wallet. She did not get a good look at the men.

Dallas City Councilman Adam McGough is the Chair of Dallas’s public safety committee. He says he wants the people responsible in the Sunset incident and other recent robberies to be caught as soon as possible.

“We want to get them off the street,” McGough said.

Elizalde also wants students to be vigilant.

"It is an alarming concern to all of us," she added.

There’s a $5,000 reward from Crime Stoppers.