A West Texas High School And University Are On Lockdown After A Gunman Fled The Scene

On Thursday morning, police and school officials in the west Texas town of Alpine confirmed an active shooting situation was under way at Alpine High School. As a result, all facilities on the high-school campus — as well as all school and administrative buildings in the area — were placed on lockdown by the authorities. As the San Antonio Express-News explains, the Brewster County Sheriff’s Office received the first call at around 9 a.m. local time. Subsequent reports convinced the office, in conjunction with others overseeing the investigation, to place most of the small rural town on what a spokesperson called a “critical lockdown.”

Shortly thereafter, major media outlets like CNN began picking up the story and offering viewers occasional updates on the matter. Per more local sources like the Alpine Avalanche and CBS 7, it seemed one person had been shot on or near the Alpine High School campus. Meanwhile, two alleged gunmen had fled the scene and were currently being pursued by police.

Not long after the story hit the national news, however, local reporters and ABC News confirmed at least one shooter was dead.

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According to the Brewster County Sheriff’s Office, the shooter had died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Alpine Avalanche followed up with updates concerning the high school students, who’d been sheltering at a nearby Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall. Students were soon to be released, apparently.

Yet it seemed that the victim and the dead shooter had been high-school students themselves. What’s more, an officer was shot in a supposed case of friendly fire.

To make matters worse, the second shooter had since relocated to nearby Sul Ross State University.

UPDATE #1: The Associated Press reports “someone brought a gun onto the Alpine High School campus,” and that three unidentified “victims” were later transported to the nearby Big Bend Regional Medical Center. Hospital officials said they would release a more detailed statement later in the day, though considering one gunman, a student, and a police officer had all been shot, chances are they’re the aforementioned victims.

Meanwhile, Sul Ross is currently under lockdown due to a bomb threat that was called in by an unknown caller. Whether or not the two incidents are connected remains unclear at this time.

UPDATE #2: BuzzFeed News reports two, and not three, persons were being treated at Big Bend Regional Medical Center — a student, and a law enforcement official injured during a friendly fire incident.

According to new information, a female student (as opposed to two gunmen as indicated earlier) brought a weapon onto campus and shot another female student. She then committed suicide, as BuzzFeed News notes:

The shooter had “one self-inflicted gunshot wound” and is deceased, [Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson] said.

“It looks like she [the shooter] shot another individual, and that individual had run out into the street,” Brewster said.

The bomb threat at Sul Ross State University is still ongoing at this time.

(Via CBS 7, Alpine Avalanche, San Antonio Express-News, and CNN)