A Texas judge has ordered a shooting range near Northlake to stop using firearms and ammunition capable of reaching a nearby middle school, after two stray bullets struck the campus in the months before its scheduled opening. Northwest ISD secured the temporary restraining order against Quail Creek Gun Range days before Floyd Barksdale Middle School is set to welcome its first students.
According to FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth, school crews found two bullets at the campus this summer, including a bullet hole in a window in May and shattered glass discovered around the same time. A separate bullet hole was later found in the brick side of the building in July. Quail Creek Gun Range sits roughly 1.2 miles from the school and has a firing line facing north, directly toward the campus.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the first stray bullet struck an exterior brick wall on May 9, while construction crews were still working on the site, prompting Northwest ISD to file an incident report with the Northlake Police Department. A second bullet, found on July 28, shattered a window pane on the press box of the school's football stadium, according to CBS News.
Range Owner's Own Words Land in Court Filings
Court filings cited by CBS News describe last Thursday's meeting in which Quail Creek Gun Range owner David Rose told Northwest ISD Safety Director Mike Conklin that a “goober” could intentionally or accidentally elevate a firearm enough to fire over the range's protective berms. The district's lawsuit says Rose acknowledged the range's current facilities did not prevent that from happening. That meeting took place less than a week before Northwest ISD filed suit.
The range has berms intended to stop bullets, but the district's filing says Rose's own admission undercut confidence that those barriers were sufficient. Satellite imagery and trajectory analysis submitted in the case, described in a Denton Scanner Facebook post, show Barksdale Middle School's main facilities sit directly downrange along the line of sight of shooters at the range's northern firing line.
Range Has Operated Since 1980, School Opens Next Week
Quail Creek Range, located at 13814 FM 1171 near Interstate 35W, has operated since 1980 and features a 100-yard covered rifle range with 20 bench positions, along with 25- and 50-yard intermediate rifle ranges and 27 pistol bays, according to the range's own description of its facilities. It predates the surrounding development by decades, but the Pecan Square community and Barksdale Middle School, located at 6901 Mulkey Lane, have since grown up nearby as Denton County's population expands. The school is named after Floyd Barksdale, a former Northwest ISD Board of Trustees member known for his advocacy for district student-athletes, per the district.
Ahead of the court order, school administrators had already adjusted plans, pushing student orientation “Bronco Camps” to 6 p.m. on August 6 and 7 so activities would happen after the range closed for the day, according to FOX 4 News. Floyd Barksdale Middle School is set to open within a few days, with classes beginning next week.
What the Restraining Order Requires
The judge's order restricts Quail Creek Gun Range from using firearms and ammunition capable of traveling the 1.2 miles to the school. The range may resume all operations once it implements what the district has described as appropriate safety measures, though the order does not specify what those measures must look like. Northwest ISD said it seeks reasonable safety standards to protect students, staff and the community, and the district has said it does not intend to shut the range down entirely.
That narrower approach reflects the legal terrain in Texas. Under Chapter 128 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, state law restricts government entities from suing sport shooting ranges over lawful firearm discharges unless the suit stems from negligent operations or unsafe conditions causing off-site danger. Northwest ISD's lawsuit leans on that negligence exception rather than seeking a broader shutdown. A full hearing on a permanent injunction is scheduled for August 20. The gun range's owner has not commented on the restraining order, per FOX 4.
A Regional Pattern of Ranges Meeting Suburban Growth
The Northlake dispute echoes a separate Texas case resolved two months ago. In June, a San Antonio gun club agreed to an $800,000 settlement and a permanent ban on outdoor shooting after a neighboring real estate developer sued over bullets trespassing onto adjoining land, according to KSAT. Both cases illustrate the friction building across Texas as master-planned communities and new school campuses rise near long-established outdoor firing ranges, leaving courts to sort out where public safety obligations begin and end.
