A man has been taken into custody Thursday on homicide charges after a fatal shooting a few blocks from El Cajon Valley High School, which was locked down after the incident, police said.
Terrell Gibbs, 47, surrendered himself to detectives around 4:30 p.m., six hours after gunfire was reported in the 300 block of First Street, according to the El Cajon Police Department.
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WATCH HEREDEVELOPING - ECPD investigating a shooting in 300 block of North First St. One man taken to a hospital. Condition unknown. El Cajon Valley HS on lockdown as a precautionary measure. There was an unrelated medical emergency at the school. Medics are providing aid. More to come.
— El Cajon Police (@elcajonpolice) April 24, 2025
An officer told NBC 7 around noon that the shooter managed to escape after the incident and was being searched for by police. At about that same time, ECPD tweeted out that a man was hospitalized after the shooting; officials said later that he had died as a result of his injuries. Police in the evening identified the victim as 26-year-old Jaquis Holiday.
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SIGN UP As SkyRanger 7 flew above the scene, nearly a dozen patrol cars were parked on surface streets at an apartment complex where the shooting apparently took place.
Investigators believe the gunman and his victim were acquainted.
"Preliminary investigation indicates this was an isolated incident and that the victim and suspect were known to each other," ECPD said in a statement released around 2:30.
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Anxious parents and family members could be seen waiting outside the school late in the morning, which police said was locked down as a "precaution." By 2 p.m., the lockdown was lifted.
Early in the afternoon, the high school sent the following message to parents: "All students and staff are safe. As law enforcement works to resolve the off-campus situation, they have confirmed that it does not pose any kind of threat to our campus at this time, so they have given permission for us to lift the lockdown."
Still later in the day, El Cajon police said two nearby elementary schools had followed the "secure campus protocol" after the shooting. Officials stressed that the shooting was not connected to any of the schools.
In the same tweet, ECPD stated that, simultaneously with the lockdown, there "was an unrelated medical emergency at the school. Medics are providing aid."
In a letter sent from the high school to parents, educators said that emergency vehicles arrived on campus to address the student medical issue:
"...This is completely separate from the lockdown. We are still implementing the lockdown procedures as law enforcement works to resolve the situation off-campus. All staff and students are safe. I know that seeing emergency vehicles on campus can create concern, especially under these circumstances. We just wanted to make sure you knew the reason the emergency vehicles were here and that it was not related to the lockdown."
"It's surprising, 'cause things like this don't really happen here," said Riziki Kashindi, who was waiting outside ECVHS and whose siblings attend the school. "It's a safe school."
