The Columbus Dispatch

Student shoots classmate

- By Jamie Stengle and Claudia Lauer

NATIONAL CRIME

DALLAS — A 16-year-old boy accused of shooting a classmate at a Texas high school early Monday morning had a history of aggressive actions at school, a fellow student said.

The injured student, a 15- year- old girl, was airlifted to a hospital in Dallas after the shooting inside the cafeteria at Italy High School, which is in the small town of Italy about 40 miles south of Dallas. Her condition was unknown, and her name was not released.

The boy fled after being confronted by a school district official but was eventually arrested on school grounds.

His name also has not been released.

Ellis County Sheriff Chuck Edge said the suspect fired several shots from a semi-automatic .380 handgun. Edge did not say how many times the victim was shot. The handgun was recovered.

Investigat­ors said they didn’t know the relationsh­ip between the victim and shooter, or what may have been the shooter’s motive.

Cassie Shook, a 17- year- old junior, was angry when she learned who the suspect was because she’d complained about the boy at least twice to school officials.

“This could have been avoidable,” she said. “There were so many signs.”

Shook said she first went to school officials after the boy allegedly made a “hit list” in eighth grade and her name was on it. Then last year, the boy got angry during a class and threw a pair of scissors at her friend and later threw a computer against a wall, she said.

Shook said the boy was removed from the school but eventually allowed back.

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