Student dead, schoolmate injured in latest US school shooting

A teenage girl took a gun to a rural high school in west Texas on Thursday and shot another girl before shooting herself, authorities said.

Sheriff Ronny Dodson with the Brewster County Sheriff’s Office said they recovered a semi-automatic pistol next to the female student shooter’s body.

A source with the Alpine School Board has confirmed to NewsChannel 9 that one student was shot and taken to an area hospital.

The Dallas Morning News reported that a spokesperson for Big Bend Regional Medical Center said the hospital is caring for three victims.

In the ensuing confusion that followed during this morning’s shooting, a Homeland Security agents responding to the scene was injured when a US Marshall accidentally shot him outside the school.

Law enforcement officials were also dealing with threats made in the wake of the shooting.

After arriving on the scene, the Sheriff’s Department found what they first thought was a shooting victim but turned out to be the shooter.

Another female student at Alpine High School and one law enforcement member were shot and wounded.

“That’s ridiculous for someone to call in something like this when we’ve got this situation going on”, Dodson said.

Alpine Independent School District describes just on 280 students being enrolled at Alpine High School, in the small town of just 6,500.

“This community did not expect this”.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he’s monitoring developments in the deadly shooting at the West Texas high school and promises to provide support for law enforcement agencies investigating the case. Authorities said the hospital has been cleared and extra deputies are keeping the location secure.

The school district’s website said the town of about 5,900 residents has three schools with a district-wide student population of 985; 300 of those students are enrolled at Alpine High School. Previous reports that two shooters were on the loose were apparantley inaccurate, as was the report that the shooting happened in the campus band hall.

The names and ages of the two students have not yet been released, Dodson said. She had no additional details.

Alpine is located about 220 miles southeast of El Paso, Texas.