Two dead, including gunman, in Texas community college shooting
DALLAS — Two people were found dead Wednesday in an apparent murder-suicide about an hour after a shooting was reported at North Lake College in Irving.
The college was placed on an intruder lockdown at 11:43 a.m. “Go to nearest room and lock-down. If not at campus STAY AWAY for your own safety,” the school warned in a tweet.
About an hour later, Irving police spokesman James McLellan said officers found the bodies of a woman and a man. One of them was the gunman, and officials said the shooting appeared to be a murder-suicide.
McLellan said the two were found in different buildings; the man shot the woman and went to another location before killing himself.
Neither person has been publicly identified, pending notification of family members. It was unclear whether they knew one another.
“We’re just so devastated that something would happen on our campus,” Christa Slejko, North Lake’s president, said at a news conference.
Nasrin Nanbakhsh, a math tutor, said she was leaving the C Building when she encountered the gunman in a hallway. She couldn’t see his face and didn’t recognize the woman he was with.
The woman was sitting on a chair, facing the man, when he shot her three times, Nanbakhsh said.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Nanbakhsh said. “No screaming, no nothing.”
Nanbakhsh, who said she had been trained about what to do in a shooting situation, ran back to her classroom and told her students to be quiet and lock the doors. The students huddled in the back of the room.
Sophomore students Tony Oslovar and Zach Svensson said they heard the shots nearby. Then they heard Nanbakhsh crying as she warned students, they said.
McLellan had described the gunman, based on surveillance footage, as a white man with a brown buzz cut. He was wearing an orange tank top with a gray stripe, carrying a handgun and may have had a black jacket.
Police said that man was the man they found dead and that there did not appear to be a continuing threat at the school.
Those on campus at the time of the shooting were urged to go to the nearest room and take shelter, and Irving police implored people to avoid the area.
The school was still partially locked down in the late afternoon as police did an initial roomto-room sweep of the campus. McLellan said authorities believed everyone had been evacuated from the campus.
Students are currently prohibited from carrying concealed weapons at community colleges in Texas. A campus-carry law for two-year colleges goes into effect Aug. 1.
Miguel Villatoro, a senior majoring in communications, was in a math class when he heard “bam, bam, bam.” He made eye contact with the professor. “Were those gunshots?” she asked the class. Terrified and trying to remain calm, they locked the door, turned off the lights and hid in a corner.
“It’s a tragedy from beginning to end,” Villatoro said. “You don’t expect it, and now you’re that school.”
Mamata Kc, a freshman, said she was in the A Building when she heard gunshots. She ran away, and then police ushered her and other students into the library.
She said they remained sheltered there for about 30 minutes.
“I just want to go home,” Kc said afterward, as she waited outside the school for friends to pick her up.
Dennis Holmes, an adjunct professor at North Lake, told KXAS-TV (NBC5) that he had been ordered to take shelter in the room he was in in the Performance Hall.
He said he grabbed furniture, mannequins — whatever he could find — to barricade the room’s five doorways.
Campus security eventually came to the room and told them to leave.
North Lake College was closed for the rest of the day Wednesday; students and staff were told to leave the perimeter of the campus. The campus will remain closed until Monday.
Slejko said counselors will be available for students and staff when North Lake reopens. People who need to retrieve items from the school can go to the Central Campus Library on from 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday and be escorted by police.
In a statement, Dallas County Community College District Chancellor Joe May expressed grief and thanked police for their help.
“Now we must move forward as a community to console each other and to help one another during this difficult time,” he said.