Police say the gunman has not been identified nearly a week after the parking lot shooting.
RICHARDSON, Texas — An 18-year-old Richardson High School student was left paralyzed from the waist down after a shooting outside a Waffle House on Spring Valley Road, as police continued Wednesday to search for the person who opened fire during a late-night fight.
Seth Jackson was shot after officers were called to 120 W. Spring Valley Road about 12:40 a.m. on March 19, according to Richardson police. The case has drawn attention across the school community because Jackson, a senior who played basketball and worked two jobs, had already been accepted to the University of Houston. His family says the shooting changed those plans in seconds and has left them facing a long medical recovery while investigators still have not said who fired the gun or what started the confrontation.
Police said several people called 911 to report a large fight in the Waffle House parking lot before gunfire broke out. When officers arrived, they found one person suffering from a gunshot wound and took him to a local hospital in stable condition. That victim was later identified as Jackson, an 18-year-old student at Richardson High School. His father, James Jackson, said his son was hurt after he moved toward a fight involving one of his friends. “He saw five guys jump on his friend,” James Jackson said, describing what he understood happened in the moments before the shooting. He said Seth reacted immediately and started toward the group, but never got close enough to reach it before shots were fired.
James Jackson said the damage from the shooting was severe. He said his son remains in intensive care and has a ruptured lung, fractured ribs and a shattered spinal cord. He said the injuries have left Seth permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Police have released few details beyond the time and place of the shooting, and investigators have not publicly named a suspect or said whether Jackson was the intended target. They also have not explained how many shots were fired, whether more than one gun was present, or what led the group in the parking lot to start fighting. Videos shared with FOX 4, the father said, appear to show Seth was not standing near the shooter when the shots rang out.
The shooting has landed heavily because of where Jackson stood in life before it happened. His father said Seth balanced school, basketball and two jobs while preparing for college. He had been accepted to the University of Houston, James Jackson said, and already had an apartment lined up for the fall. Now the family is planning for a different future centered on rehabilitation, home changes and daily care. James Jackson said he has begun thinking through what it will take to make the family home accessible, including widening bathroom doors and remodeling part of the house. Those practical concerns have come alongside the emotional shock that often follows sudden gun violence, especially when a teenager is critically hurt in a public place.
For police, the case remains in the investigative stage. Richardson officers have asked anyone with information about the shooting to come forward. As of Wednesday evening, authorities had not announced an arrest, filed charges or released a description of the shooter in the public account summarized by FOX 4. They also had not said whether surveillance video from nearby businesses or witness cellphone recordings had helped identify the person responsible. The next steps are likely to depend on interviews, video review and any forensic evidence gathered at the scene, though police have not detailed that work publicly. Until an arrest is made, the central questions in the case remain unresolved: who fired the shot, why the fight began and whether the gunfire was aimed at Jackson or someone else.
Outside the investigation, the family has begun speaking in public about the cost of the shooting. James Jackson described the phone call that woke him in the middle of the night and the reality of learning his son’s life had changed almost instantly. He said his focus now is less on anger than on helping Seth survive and adjust. At the same time, he said he wants the shooter found. The story has also spread because it captures a sharp contrast between ordinary plans and sudden violence: a high school senior with a college acceptance, a restaurant parking lot after midnight, a fight that turned into gunfire, and a family now measuring its days by hospital updates and construction needs at home.
Jackson remained hospitalized Wednesday, and police had not announced an arrest. The next clear milestone in the case will be any public identification of a suspect or update from investigators on what sparked the fight and who fired the shot.
Author note: Last updated March 25, 2026.