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Texas high school shootings: Shooter dead, 2 injured, sheriff says

Posted at 11:51 AM, Sep 08, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-08 14:03:16-04

(CNN) — One person was shot and wounded at western Texas’ Alpine High School on Thursday morning before the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot, Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson said.

A police officer also was accidentally shot by a marshal as officers responded to the first shooting, Dodson said. The conditions of the two injured people were not immediately released.

Few other details were released about the shootings at the school in Alpine, a community of about 6,500 people roughly 200 miles southeast of El Paso.

The Brewster County Sheriff’s Office initially said two shooters were believed to be on the loose, but Dodson said late Thursday morning that with the initial shooter dead, no others were being sought.

One of the shootings happened in the school’s band hall, Brewster County Attorney J. Steve Houston said. The names of those involved in the shootings weren’t immediately released.

‘There was blood on the floor’

A junior at the school told CNN that students had just started the day’s second period when a teacher outside her class began yelling, “Get in the classroom!”

“My teacher … yelled to everyone to get into the closet,” said the junior, whom CNN is not naming because she is a minor.

“We heard someone yelling and running down the hall. We all started crying.”

After a time, a law enforcement officer banged on the classroom door and ushered the students out, she said.

“There was blood on the floor in the cafeteria that I saw when we went past it on our way out of the school,” the student said. “One of the officers told us to keep our hands up and run out of the building, so I only saw the blood quickly.”

“It was so scary and very intense. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

The school, which has about 280 students, initially was placed on lockdown, the school district said. But students were being evacuated by 9:40 a.m. CT, the Alpine Avalanche newspaper said on its Facebook page.

In a post reporting the evacuation, the Avalanche included an image of people gathering outside along a street.

Thursday’s shooting came just over two weeks after the new school year began.

One person has been shot at Alpine High School in western Texas, and two shooters are believed to be on the loose, the Brewster County Sheriff's office said Thursday, September 8, 2016.

One person has been shot at Alpine High School in western Texas, and two shooters are believed to be on the loose, the Brewster County Sheriff’s office said Thursday, September 8, 2016.