Houston: Two people were shot and two others were injured when a 18-year-old student fired a shot during the class battle at Texas Middle School on Wednesday, police said.
Police Chief Assistant Arlington Kevin Kolbye said the suspect, identified as Timothy George Simpkins, was arrested after the shooting at the High School Timberview in Arlington, the suburb of Dallas.
Kolye added Simpkins, who transformed himself after escaping from school, would be charged with three accusations of attacks aggravated with deadly weapons.
The police said the Caliber .45 pistol had been restored.
Three people were hospitalized, two of them with gunshot wounds, police officers said.
Local media said a 15-year-old boy was critical condition while another injury did not threaten the lives.
The fourth person, a pregnant woman, was treated at the scene for a minor injury and was released.
“This is not a randomized acts of violence,” Kolye told reporters.
“A student quarrel and drawing weapons.” Kolye said more than “two or three shots” fired.
“We know that this is a traumatic incident for these children,” he said.
“We have increased security with additional police officers in all our schools in Arlington.” The school was locked up after shooting and Arlington police set up a safe area for parents to reunite with their children.
Television images showed a heavy police presence around the school after the shooting, with armed officers looking for a large campus and ambulance and fire truck on the scene.
The yellow school bus fleet was mobilized to evacuate students from school after locking was appointed.
TimberView High School has registration of around 1,900 students.
After one year spent most online learning, US schools have returned to class, reviving the fear of shooting on campus, with several small-scale incidents reported in recent weeks.
More than 256,000 students have been exposed to weapons violence in US schools since 13 people killed in massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, according to data compiled by the Washington Post.
The figure includes those who are trapped in violence, such as witnesses, and those who are forced to evacuate educational institutions when shots erupted.
The recent school shooting of the most deadly in the United States took place in 2018, when 17 people were killed by former students in high school in Parkland, Florida.
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