Student shoots girl, kills self at Texas school

Associated Press

ALPINE, Texas

A 14-year-old girl died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound Thursday after shooting and injuring another female student inside a high school in West Texas, according to the local sheriff.

Authorities did not release a possible motive for the gunfire that erupted shortly before 9 a.m. at Alpine High School in Alpine, a town of 5,900 about 220 miles southeast of El Paso. The shooting was followed by a series of unrelated threats 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 about six months ago. She was a freshman at the school.

Dodson said the injured student ran outside seeking help and was taken to a hospital with injuries that weren’t considered life threatening.

Dodson said a U.S. Homeland Security officer who was responding to the incident was shot in the leg when a U.S. marshal who also was responding accidentally discharged his weapon. The injured officer was transported to a hospital in Odessa, Texas.

The shooting at the high school prompted a lockdown at Alpine’s three public schools, which were later evacuated.