1 student dead, 1 hurt in school shooting
ALPINE, Texas — A 14-year-old girl died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after shooting and injuring another female student Thursday inside a high school in West Texas, according to the local sheriff.
Authorities haven’t released a possible motive for the gunfire that erupted shortly before 9 a.m. at Alpine High School in Alpine, about 220 miles southeast of El Paso. The shooting was followed by a series of unrelated threats to other locations in the area made by a male caller that added to the chaos of the day and diverted law enforcement from the high school.
“That’s ridiculous for someone to call in something like this when we’ve got this situation going on,” Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson told radio station KVLF.
The sheriff said the family of the girl who died had moved to Alpine, a town of roughly 5,900 residents, about six months ago. She was a freshman at the school, he said, but he declined to provide other details. In recent decades, the majority of school shooting suspects have been male.
Dodson said the injured student ran outside seeking help and was taken to a hospital with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening. A U.S. Homeland Security officer responding to the shooting also was injured; he was shot in the leg when a U.S. marshal accidentally discharged his weapon, Dodson said.
Big Bend Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Ruth Hucke said the hospital treated two people from the incident. She said one was treated and released, while the other was transferred. Hucke didn’t specify which patient was released, but officials said the injured officer was transferred to a hospital in Odessa.
The shooting at the high school prompted a lockdown at Alpine’s three public schools, which were later evacuated.
Alpine police Chief Russell Scown said even after the shooter was found mortally wounded in a bathroom at the school, it wasn’t immediately clear she was the assailant. Emergency responders at one point thought two shooters may have been involved.
After an emergency board of trustees meeting Thursday afternoon, officials at the Alpine Independent School District issued a statement closing its three schools today. The statement said the district will have counselors and clergy available Monday when classes resume. It also is holding a training session for staff on responding to trauma.