A teacher at Highland Middle School in Hobbs, New Mexico, was shot multiple times Friday morning, according to his family, who identified him as Kelly Matthews. His daughter says he was shot once in the stomach, once in the hip, and possibly grazed by a third bullet before undergoing surgery in Lubbock, Texas, according to KOAT. Police detained a male juvenile suspect after a foot pursuit, but many of the central questions in the case remain unanswered.
According to KOAT, Matthews underwent surgery at University Medical Center in Lubbock after the shooting, which his family says happened as he was walking through the parking lot or between buildings when he encountered the suspect. Matthews has been a teacher his entire life, his daughter told the station, and she believes the suspect is a middle school student, though police have not confirmed whether the suspect is a student at all.
What Police Have Not Confirmed
The station's report notes that officers took the male juvenile into custody following a foot pursuit, but the motive behind the shooting is unknown. It is also unknown whether Matthews was specifically targeted or whether he was the first victim in what could have been a planned mass shooting — a possibility his daughter raised but that has not been established, as reported by KOAT.
No official statement from police or the school district accompanies these details, and the suspect's identity, any charges, and how a firearm ended up on campus have not been disclosed. Matthews's current medical condition beyond the surgery, and whether the school was placed under any kind of lockdown, were not addressed in the available reporting.
A Daughter's Call for Change
“Thoughts and prayers are not enough,” Matthews's daughter said, as she called for school-safety reform in the wake of the shooting, as noted by KOAT. Her plea echoes a pattern seen elsewhere: a July report noted that 16-year-old Colt Gray pleaded guilty to murder in a 2024 shooting that killed four people, including teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall and Cristina Irimie, according to a Count on 2 snippet of Associated Press reporting.
New Mexico has seen its own share of campus violence in recent years. A shooting at a University of New Mexico dormitory in July 2025 left one person dead and another wounded, according to a FOX5 Vegas snippet. In December 2025, a juvenile was taken into custody after a replica firearm was displayed on a school campus, a separate advisory noted.
For now, Hobbs families are left waiting on the same open questions that have followed Matthews's daughter since Friday morning: who the suspect is, why the shooting happened, and whether her father was specifically singled out. Hoodline will continue to follow this story as more information becomes available.
