US student shoots 2 schoolmates, then kills self

Centennial, Colorado:  The student did not try to hide the shotgun he carried into Arapahoe High School at 12:30 p.m. Friday. He sought to confront a specific teacher, law enforcement officials said, and asked his classmates where he could find him. The teacher slipped away from the building, but law enforcement officials said the gunman shot two students, seriously wounding one of them, and then died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Colorado Gov. John W. Hickenlooper called the incident an "all-too familiar sequence" in a state that has endured two of the country's worst mass shootings. Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said the authorities believed that the gunman acted alone. But officials did not identify him or the injured students, and did not offer a motive or describe the gunman's relationship with the teacher. Robinson said the teacher had made "the most important tactical decision that could be made" by leaving, attempting to draw the shooter out of the school and away from students. It was unclear why the two students had been shot. Grayson said initial reports about a confrontation between the gunman and one of his victims appeared to be inaccurate. Robinson also said that a device similar to a Molotov cocktail had been found inside the school. Law enforcement officials said they had been in contact with the gunman's family and would spend the next days trying to answer questions about his background, and unravel his reasons for walking into the school and opening fire. Students said they had been watching a movie in psychology class, talking about their plans for Christmas break or thinking about college application deadlines when the gunshots echoed through the hallway. Some thought they heard books slamming onto the floor. Others knew immediately and dived for cover, huddling together. Some began to cry. Their teachers slammed shut classroom doors to wait for the police. "Everyone just jumped to the wall," said Sam Hughes, a senior, who said he heard three shots. "It was really scary," said Megan Sheehan, a senior, who also heard three shots. "Everyone just ran into the corner. You'd never think it would happen at your school." Within minutes, swarms of police cars, then parents and news reporters, converged on the school of 2,100 students, where administrators boast about the strong test scores and high college attendance rates. Tactical officers with drawn weapons threaded through the hallways and stood at the fences. Students streamed out of the school and onto the snow-covered track, some of them holding their hands on top of their heads, to be searched by police. Several other schools in the area were locked down. Parents waiting behind police lines dialed and redialed their children. They were reunited at a church and on the lawn outside a Burger King, hugging each other across a strip of yellow police tape. "You just think you were in an area where it would never happen," said Dan Sheehan, Megan's father. Many students here grew up accustomed to school security procedures after the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, which is about 8 miles from Arapahoe High School. Students said they had long practiced lockdown drills and knew by heart what to do in the event of gunshots. "They've been doing it since we were in elementary school," said Charlie Kellogg, a senior.