TYLER, Texas — A special-education teacher who had a passion for music was fatally stabbed Wednesday morning in a Texas high school classroom, and police took a 16-year-old student into custody.
Todd R. Henry, 50, worked with students at John Tyler High School who were either emotionally or behaviorally challenged, according to his older brother, Jody Henry.
"He loved it," the elder Henry said. "He told me it was his calling. He had never been happier than when working with these kids."
District Superintendent Randy Reid said the boy approached his teacher about 8:50 a.m. and stabbed him in the neck with a sharp object.
A teacher aide and two other students were in the classroom, and the aide subdued the stabber before calling district police, Reid said.
Reid said the student had been in and out of the district "a couple of times" but declined to provide further details, citing privacy laws.
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"It is our understanding at this time that there was nothing in the classroom that incited this situation," Reid said. "It was a random act."
The high school was locked down after the stabbing and students were eventually sent home for the day, according to a statement on the district's Web site.
Reid said classes would resume today.
Jan Shaw Henry, the teacher's wife of 10 months, said he had been injured by a student before. Todd Henry missed the first two weeks of school recovering from shoulder surgery after he broke up a fight at school last year, his wife said.
"He worked in a prison for 10 years. Do you think this man was afraid? Get real," Jan said in a telephone interview from her Tyler home, surrounded by close friends and family. "We'd be eating out and a student would walk up and shake his hand. He'd look at me and smile and say, 'That's what it's all about.' "
Police did not offer a motive behind the stabbing and referred further questions to Angela Jenkins, a school district spokeswoman.
Jenkins said about 2,000 students attend John Tyler High and the district will provide additional support, security and counseling for students and staff as needed.
She said Todd Henry began working for the district in 2003 at a school for special-needs students and transferred to the high school four years ago.
Late Wednesday afternoon only a few cars remained in the parking lot, and all entrances were blocked off with heavy steel barriers.
Jose Mundo, a 16-year-old junior at the school, said he learned of the stabbing through a text message sent by a friend during the two-hour lockdown. He said Henry was his band teacher last year. "He was cool with you," Mundo said. "He was a nice guy."
Those who lived and worked nearby said they were stunned to learn of the slaying.
"Nothing like this has ever happened here as far as I know," said Don Dozier, a custodian for 15 years at Westwood Baptist Church next to the school.
The stabbing stunned the tight-knit community of 110,000 about 90 miles southeast of Dallas.
