Middle school teacher accused of shooting sleeping son, stepdaughter, battering wife – Law Officer

MANSFIELD, Texas – A middle school teacher in the city of Mansfield — a suburb in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex area — is charged with three counts of aggravated assault after police say he battered his wife before shooting his sleeping son and stepdaughter last week.

Officers with the Mansfield Police Department were dispatched to 3 Arabian Court shortly before 11 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, officials said. Upon arrival, police determined the crimes began as a domestic dispute during which the husband argued with his wife and proceeded to batter her, NBC 5 DFW reported.

The husband — identified as 52-year-old Thomas Boykin — then retrieved a firearm and went into his 13-year-old son’s bedroom and shot him while the boy was asleep. Next, he went into his 21-year-old stepdaughter’s bedroom and shot her, police said. During the sequence of events, the girl managed to call 911 as the wife escaped the residence without further harm.

Both shooting victims were transported to Medical City Arlington by Mansfield paramedics and underwent emergency surgery. Afterward, they were listed in serious but stable condition, police said.

Boykin was arrested without incident. He was subsequently transported to the Everman Jail and charged with three counts of aggravated assault/family violence involving serious bodily injury, according to NBC 5.

The criminal defendant is an eighth-grade science teacher at Linda Jobe Middle School in the Mansfield Independent School District, administrators confirmed with the news outlet. He is currently on leave and the superintendent is proceeding forward with his termination, pending the school board’s approval.

“Mansfield ISD does not condone this type of behavior in our schools or community. Our thoughts and support are with the victims,” the district said in a statement.

The investigation remains ongoing as detectives were trying to determine what preceded the shooting, police said.

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