15-year-old hid under her desk during fatal high school shooting

AZTEC, New Mexico: Heaven Angelica Hughes and her classmates heard loud noises coming from the hallway just before bullets began flying through the window, striking a wall over one student’s head.

“Get down!” her teacher yelled. The 15- year- old hid under her desk. Heaven then sent a text message: “There’s a shooting here at school, Mom.”

David Stone, 16, heard the same booms while in maths class. His teacher herded the class into a cupboard and locked the door.

“This is not a drill,” an announcer over the school intercom told pupils.

When the frightened pupils emerged from their hiding places at Aztec High School on Thursday, they learned that two of their classmates had been killed. The shooter was also dead.

The close-knit community of 6 500 people was thrust into mourning as they became the latest to feel the sting of what seems to be a routine tragedy in the US.

Why the shooter chose Casey Marquez and Francisco Fernandez remained a mystery as detectives combed through evidence. So far, they have released few details.

“I just thought it was a dream,” said Sebastian McNeal, 18, who was waiting to board a bus for a basketball tournament. “I thought I was going to wake up and it’s going to be all fine.”

Then he saw an ambulance. “I knew it was real,” he said.

Police arrived less than a minute after getting the initial calls. With the school in lockdown, they got inside through a window.

It was not clear if the shooter died by suicide or was killed by police. No other injuries were reported.

Just hours after the gunshots, pupils and the community gathered in churches, community centres and a park, braving frigid temperatures for a candlelight vigil. They were trying to make sense of it all. At St Joseph’s Catholic Church, residents came together to say a rosary for the victims.

“Right now, we need to keep each other in our hearts and thoughts and take care of each other,” Aztec mayor Sally Burbridge said on Facebook.

Some residents waved American flags on busy streets.

“This is a tight community,” Marsha Dodd, 51, said while holding a flag in front of a grocery store. “I don’t want this in my community, just peace and love.”

She stood next to Dennis Martinez, 24, who held a sign demanding that teachers be allowed to carry guns. – AP