Student is killed in shooting at Arkansas school

Sarah Bahr

A 15-year-old boy was killed in a shooting at a junior high school in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, authorities said Monday, the first day back inside classrooms for a school district hit hard by weeks of winter weather.

The student, who was not named because he is a juvenile, died of his injuries Monday at Arkansas Children’s Hospital after he was shot by another 15-year-old boy at the school, Watson Chapel Junior High, Pine Bluff Chief Kelvin Sergeant said.

The student with the gun, who was uninjured and also not named, was taken into custody, the chief said. He was found on a street in a nearby neighborhood by officials with the Arkansas Department of Corrections, which had joined the investigation and deployed its dog team, Sergeant said.

He said police did not yet know a motive or how the two students were related. But he said he was “fairly confident” that the shooting “was not random and was targeted.”

The police were called to the school at 9:59 a.m. on the report of a shooting. When officers arrived, they found the injured 15-year-old boy with an apparent gunshot wound. He was taken to a nearby hospital and then transferred to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, the capital, about 44 miles away.

The shooting occurred during a period when students were moving between classrooms.

The student with the gun was transported to the Jack Jones Juvenile Justice Center. The Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office said they will decide whether to hold a probable cause hearing in juvenile or adult court within the next two days.