Three suspects have been arrested since the March 19 gunfire outside a Waffle House, but investigators say the shooter who paralyzed a Richardson High senior remains unidentified.
RICHARDSON, TX — Richardson police are still trying to identify the gunman who shot 18-year-old Seth Jackson outside a Waffle House on March 19, leaving the Richardson High School senior permanently paralyzed from the waist down after a late-night fight spilled into gunfire.
The case has drawn wide attention in North Texas because Jackson was a high school athlete preparing for college when he was hit during a chaotic scene involving dozens of young people. Police have said multiple people drew guns and fired during the fight outside the restaurant at 120 W. Spring Valley Road. Investigators have arrested three people in connection with the violence, but they have not publicly named the person they believe fired the shot that struck Jackson, leaving one of the central questions in the case unresolved.
Police said officers were sent to the Waffle House at about 12:40 a.m. on March 19 after callers reported a large fight in the parking lot followed by shots. When officers arrived, they found one person wounded. That victim was later identified as Jackson, an 18-year-old Richardson High student. His father, James Jackson, said his son had moved toward a fight after seeing a friend being attacked. “He saw five guys jump on his friend,” James Jackson said, describing the moments before the shooting. He said Seth never got close to the person who fired and was within only 10 to 15 feet of the disturbance before the gunfire erupted. Police have said the confrontation escalated quickly, with multiple people pulling handguns as the crowd scattered.
As investigators worked backward through the chaos, court records described a larger chain of events that began earlier that night in Dallas. According to those records, more than 500 people had gathered at a party in a building off South Sherman Street before Dallas police broke up the event. After that, roughly 50 to 100 people went to the Richardson Waffle House, where tempers flared again. Police say an argument over a girl touched off the violence. Court records cited in local reports say 18-year-old Taylor Griffin punched one person, who left the area, and 17-year-old Charles Webster later punched another person linked to that earlier dispute. A witness told police that a Black male then pulled out a gun and started shooting, and that other people also opened fire. Records also say a 16-year-old friend of Jackson was among those seen firing a weapon. Police have not said how many total shots were fired, how many guns were used or which round struck Jackson.
Richardson police announced the first two arrests on March 26. Griffin, 18, and Webster, 17, both of Anna, were charged with engaging in organized criminal activity. Police said they believed both were involved in the events leading up to and during the shooting, though neither was publicly identified as the gunman who wounded Jackson. Griffin admitted to punching someone before the gunfire, according to court records summarized in local reporting. On April 1, police announced a third arrest, saying a juvenile suspect had been charged with deadly conduct and that investigators believed the juvenile fired a weapon during the March 19 shooting. Even with that arrest, police said the shooter who left Jackson paralyzed had not been publicly identified. The department also released surveillance images of persons of interest and said students from Richardson ISD, Anna ISD and possibly other school districts were involved.
For Jackson’s family, the case has become both a criminal investigation and a life-changing medical crisis. His father has said Seth suffered a ruptured lung, fractured ribs and a shattered spinal cord. He remained in intensive care in the days after the shooting, and his family later said he had been left permanently paralyzed from the waist down. James Jackson said the injury abruptly changed the path his son had been on. He said Seth worked two jobs, played on the Richardson High basketball team and had been accepted to the University of Houston, with an apartment already lined up for the fall. “Nobody calls in the middle of the night with good news,” his father said in one television interview, describing the phone call that sent him rushing to the hospital. He has also said the family is now trying to make the home accessible, including widening bathroom doorways and remodeling a bathroom for wheelchair use.
The shooting has also raised questions about how a large group of teenagers and young adults moved from one late-night gathering to another and how many people in that crowd were armed. Police have not publicly explained whether investigators believe the shooting was planned, whether rival groups had been in conflict before that night or whether anyone besides Jackson was hit by gunfire. They also have not publicly named the persons of interest shown in surveillance images released after the third arrest. What is clear from police descriptions and court filings is that the case is broader than a single punch or a single shot. Detectives have said the disturbance began as a conflict between groups and turned into a scene where several people drew weapons. That description has shaped the charges already filed and suggests investigators are treating the shooting as a group event with several participants rather than an isolated act by one person.
School and community reaction has centered on Jackson’s sudden loss and on the fact that he was a senior nearing graduation. Richardson ISD confirmed that Jackson was a Richardson High student after the shooting. Family members and friends have described him in public interviews as a strong student and athlete whose plans changed in a matter of seconds. His father has insisted that Seth was not the shooter and said video from the scene shows him nowhere near the person who opened fire. That distinction has become central to how the family talks about the case. James Jackson has said his son reacted when he saw a friend being attacked, then was caught in a burst of gunfire. “I just want to make sure that people know that my boys did not shoot anyone,” Tieaster Colley, the mother of Griffin and aunt of Webster, said in a separate interview, underscoring how relatives of those charged are also trying to shape the public understanding of who did what that night.
The legal picture remains incomplete. Griffin and Webster face organized criminal activity charges, and the juvenile arrested April 1 faces a deadly conduct charge, according to police. Investigators have indicated more than one person fired a weapon, which means the final charging decisions may depend on forensic work, witness interviews and video review. Police have not publicly announced an arrest on a charge directly tied to the shot that paralyzed Jackson, and they have not said whether additional arrests are expected. They also have not publicly released a detailed probable-cause narrative identifying the gunman who struck him. The next steps are likely to include continued review of surveillance footage, ballistics work and follow-up interviews with people who were in the crowd. Any future charges tied directly to Jackson’s injury would mark a major turn in the case and could clarify whether prosecutors view the shooting as attempted murder, aggravated assault or part of a broader group offense.
At the center of all of that remains a parking lot that became a crime scene in minutes. Witnesses described a large crowd, a fight, then panic as shots rang out and people ran. The Waffle House on Spring Valley Road has become the fixed point in every retelling of the night, but much of the case still rests on what happened in seconds inside a shifting crowd of young people. Jackson’s father has said his focus is less on the headlines than on getting his son home and adjusting to a new reality. He has spoken about carpenters, door frames and hospital recovery in the same breath as arrests and police updates, a measure of how the criminal case and the family’s daily life now move together.
As of April 3, police had made three arrests and released images of people they want to identify, but they still had not publicly named the gunman who shot Jackson. The next key milestone will come when investigators announce whether further arrests or more serious charges are filed in the March 19 shooting.
Author note: Last updated April 3, 2026.