A student was shot dead and another was injured during a shooting outside a high school near Dallas, Texas on Monday morning, March 20, authorities said.
The Arlington Police Department received 911 calls about several shots fired outside the Lamar High School in Arlington just before 7 a.m.
Responding officers arrived at the school and found a teenage boy in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the neck and a female student who had sustained non-life-threatening injuries to her jaw.
Police placed the school on lockdown. The department confirmed on Facebook that they had arrested the suspected shooter, a 15-year-old.
According to authorities, both victims and the shooter are students at the high school.
Police issued a report that said the teen suspect tried to flee the scene and dropped his backpack with the gun inside when police tried to apprehend him.
The gunfire happened before classes were scheduled to start at 7:35 a.m., and not all students had arrived at the school, according to a statement shared by the department hours after the incident.
Investigators do not believe that the shooter ever entered the school premises that day, and responding officers located him shortly after their arrival and took him into custody.
Officers rushed the injured male to a nearby hospital, where doctors later pronounced him dead.
Police secured the school building once the shooter was in custody, and they did not believe there were any other threats after the arrest. However, the school remained under lockdown for several hours as officers searched for any other potential shooters and cleared the building.
According to the department, the lockdown was lifted three hours later when officers completed their search. The department also released the students back to their parents.
In the courtroom, the judge read from the police report, which confirmed that the shooter was seen on surveillance video pulling a long gun out of his backpack and shooting in the direction of a group of students right before 7 a.m.
The Arlington ISD Board of Education Chair Melody Fowler said the school recently installed upgraded metal detectors.
