Alpine High Shooting Update: Freshman Planned To Kill Stepbrother And Commit Suicide Until Plan Was Foiled By Fellow Student
The Alpine High School shooting in Alpine, Texas, last week is being described as a murder-suicide plan gone awry, according to a new press release issued by the Alpine Police Department (via KAXN News). Last week, news broke early on Thursday morning that there was an active shooter in Alpine, Texas, at a local high school.
The shooting left one Alpine High student dead and one injured. There was also one Homeland Security agent injured during the friendly fire and accidental discharge of a weapon following the chaos that ensued after the shooting, as previously reported by the Inquisitr when news first broke of the shooting.
We now have more information on what actually happened that fateful day in Alpine, however, the parents and students of Alpine High School are still left with many questions. The theory of bullying in the high school has been afloat by many outlets and students of the high school as the motivation behind the shooting that left one shooter dead and one student injured.
The Alpine Police Department has withdrawn that theory, saying the 14-year-old shooter planned a murder-suicide and intended to murder her 14-year-old stepbrother before killing herself. In a press release issued last night and posted to the Alpine Police Department Facebook page, Chief Russell Scown said that the shooting last week was a murder-suicide plan gone wrong.
According to the press release, at approximately 8:54 a.m. local time on September 8, a 14-year-old freshman student of Alpine High went into the restroom near the band hall in the school. In the backpack she took with her was a Kahr CW9 9mm semi-automatic gun and 18 rounds of ammunition.
As the freshman was arming her firearm, a 17-year-old junior entered the restroom. The freshman then raised the gun, and the junior “ducked and began running” as the freshman began shooting. The junior was struck once in the lower body.
The building was put on critical lockdown. Students began evacuation shortly after the last round of fire occurred. A deputy with Brewster County Sheriff’s office inadvertently entered the school and then began clearing the building, according to details released in the press conference below.
The 17-year-old was taken immediately to the hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. She was released the same day, reports CBS 7.
Immediately after injuring the 17-year-old, the shooter “turned the gun on herself” and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, reads the press release. Alpine police also said that the gun was brought to school from the freshman’s residence and that a total of five rounds were fired from the 9mm Kahr CW9.
Bullying as the motivation of this shooting has long been the speculation since the shooting occurred, reports CBS 7. A friend of the 17-year-old victim told CBS that a certain group of freshmen at Alpine High School has been encouraging each other to kill themselves.
This friend, known as Cade Blevin, explained, “These girls were telling her to kill herself, and that she’s a terrible person. It’s like pretty bad stuff, and this is the first I’ve heard of anything to that level. Nothing gets that bad in this town and maybe now we need to look a little deeper….I’ve heard from some of my other friends that other freshman of the same group of friends have told them to go kill themselves too.”
Alpine, Texas, is a small town of approximately 6,000 population. The shooting has rocked the community.
Local newspaper the Alpine Avalanche has been posting frequent updates on their Facebook page since the shooting. Schools were closed in Alpine, Texas, on Friday, the day after the shooting.
A stress debriefing for parents was held at the Alpine Civic Center on September 11. The main speaker for the debriefing was Veronica Sites, a volunteer responder with Homeland Security, reports San Angelo Live.
However, the stress debriefing was only in place to offer coping mechanisms to parents and students. Details of the shooting were not discussed, and no questions pertaining to the shooting were permitted. Veronica Sites cautioned parents to monitor their children’s social media pages and told them to “be vigilant” and reassuring to their children in the wake of the tragedy.
A stress debriefing for teachers of the school, who succumbed to lockdown procedure as soon as the shooting began, occurred on September 9. One parent posted their gratitude to the brave staff of Alpine High the day after the shooting.
http://www.facebook.com/connie.gooch.5/posts/10207099213858760
Schools re-opened in Alpine on Monday, September 12. The word “bullying” has come up a lot since the shooting, but the Alpine Police Department negated this theory in the press release last night.
“Interviews along with evidence associated with the incident, have led investigators to determine that bullying of the 14-year-old did not take place and was not a factor in this incident.”
The investigation is described as ongoing by police, with information being released as it becomes available. It is unclear why the investigation is ongoing if the shooter is deceased and a motive has been released. The Brewster County Sheriff’s Office have provided more details on what actually happened that day in this recent press conference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZwGjSHjZVI
Comments on the Facebook pages of the local police and newspapers by parents of the students in the high school show a community still rocked by this tragedy. Not only did these parents of a small town in Texas succumb to the realities of school shootings in their everyday life, but now also have the first-hand experience of meeting and hearing from the Department of Homeland Security on how to keep their children safe.
While the community heals, Alpine clearly has more questions than answers that they were not permitted to ask during a Homeland Security briefing.
[Photo by KWES-TV/AP Images]
