10 people killed in Texas school shooting, gunman is arrested
Santa Fe ( Texas), May 18: At least eight people were killed when a student opened fire at his Texas high school on Friday, as President Donald Trump expressed “heartbreak” over the latest deadly school shooting in the United States.
The shooting took place as classes were beginning for the day at Santa Fe High School in the city of the same name, located about 30 miles ( 50 kilometers) southeast of Houston.
“There are multiple fatalities,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told reporters. “There could be anywhere between eight to 10, the majority being students.”
At least six people were hospitalized, including a police officer, Santa Fe school district police chief Walter Braun said.
Hospital officials said one victim was in critical condition.
Braun also said “explosive devices” had been found in the school and “surrounding areas” and warned people to exercise caution.
The male teen suspect in custody was not immediately identified. Media reports said he was 17 years old. A second possible person of interest was being questioned, Gonzalez told reporters.
The shooting was the latest in what has become an all- too- familiar situation in American schools, where gun violence has become a part of everyday life.
“I shouldn’t be going through this. It’s my school. This is my daily life,” said a weeping Santa Fe student, Dakota Shrader.
“I feel scared to even go back. As soon as the alarms went off everybody just started running outside.
“And the next thing you know everybody looks and you hear ‘ boom, boom, boom’ and I just ran as fast as I could to the nearest forest so I could hide and I called my Mom.”
Earlier this year, 17 students and staff were killed at a Florida high school — a massacre that prompted survivors to launch a grassroots campaign against gun violence.