Ten killed in Texas school shooting: Student, 17, yells 'Surprise!' as he bursts into art class with assault rifle, shotgun and pistol and opens fire before being taken alive - as police find explosives in multiple locations
A heavily armed student gunman was taken into custody after entering a classroom with the word 'Surprise!' and shooting 10 people to death inside Santa Fe High School in Texas this morning.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the 17-year-old male suspect was taken into custody and a second person of interest was detained.
The majority of the deceased victims were students, according to Gonzalez. As many as a dozen others were wounded, among them a police officer who was reportedly shot in the shoulder.
It was reported by Chron.com, citing law reinforcement sources, that the gunman carried out the massacre with an AR-15-style rifle, a pistol and a shotgun.
Responding law enforcement officials later found pipe bombs both inside the school and at a site off campus, and urged town residents to be vigilant and call 911 if they see anything suspicious.
The Santa Fe Independent School District said in a statement Friday that authorities are in the process of rendering the recovered explosive devices safe. There’s no indication how many devices have been found.
'Santa Fe High School in Texas was on lockdown after a shooter stormed into a class and killed 10 people Friday morning
A Pearland Police armored vehicle stands ready in front of Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe
Police officers in tactical gear move through the scene at Santa Fe High School where pipe bombs were found
A man hugs a sobbing woman outside the Alamo Gym where parents wait to reunite with their children following a shooting at Santa Fe High School
Santa Fe High School junior Guadalupe Sanchez, 16, cries in the arms of her mother, Elida Sanchez, after reuniting with her at a meeting point at a nearby Alamo Gym
Santa Fe High School staff react as they gather in the parking lot of a gas station following a shooting at the school in Santa Fe, Texas, on Friday
Police officers, sheriff's deputies and ATF agents are on the scene of the active shooter situation
Medical helicopters are pictured in the parking lot of the suburban Houston school Friday
Police responded to the school on State Highway 6 near Morning Glory Drive in Santa Fe just before 8am after getting reports of shots fired.
Witnesses described how the unnamed gunman burst through the door of a first-period art class and yelled 'Surprise!' before opening fire on his classmates.
Then a fire alarm was pulled somewhere in the building, sending students running into the hallway.
'As soon as the alarms went off, everybody just started running outside,' sophomore Dakota Shrader told reporters, 'and next thing you know everybody looks, and you hear boom, boom, boom, and I just ran as fast as I could to the nearest floor so I could hide, and I called my mom.'
Another student told ABC13 in an earlier phone interview that the suspect came into her first-period art class and started shooting at 7.45am.
The student says she saw one girl with blood on her leg as the class evacuated the room.
'We thought it was a fire drill at first but really, the teacher said, "Start running,”' the student told the television station.
President Trump addressed the shooting in Texas as he delivered remarks during the Prison Reform Summit at the White House in Washington
The student said she didn’t get a good look at the shooter because she was running away. She said students escaped through a door at the back of the classroom.
Santa Fe Police, Galveston County Sheriff's Office and ATF agents responded to the school. Medical helicopters were pictured in the parking lot, along with multiple ambulances.
President Donald Trump addressed the latest school shooting in a tweet, which said in part: 'Early reports not looking good. God bless all!'
First lady Melania Trump, who is still recovering from a recent surgery, also tweeted, saying: 'my heart goes out to Santa Fe and all of Texas today.'
Trump again weighed in on the massacre in Texas as he delivered remarks during the Prison Reform Summit at the White House, expressing his 'sadness and heartbreak' and saying that his administration is closely monitoring the situation.
'This has been going on too long in our country – too many years, too many decades now,' he went on to say. 'We grieve for the terrible loss of life and send our support and love to everyone affected by this absolutely horrific attack to the students, families, teachers and personnel at Santa Fe High.
'We're with you in this tragic hour and we will be with you forever. My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools, and to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves and to others.
'Everyone must work together at every level of government to keep our children safe. May God heal the injured, and may God comfort the wounded, and may God be with the victims and with the victims' families. Very sad day. Very, very sad.'
David Hogg, the outspoken survivor of the February 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead, lashed out on Twitter at politicians for failing to do anything to rein in gun violence in the US.
David Hogg, the Parkland, Florida shooting survivor, addressed this latest massacre in this strongly-worded tweet Friday
Santa Fe High School student Dakota Shrader is comforted by her mother Susan Davidson
School staff members sit in a school bus to be transported to another school Friday
News chopper footage showed a small crowd of students emptying their backpacks for inspection on the grass.
Students are being transported to Alamo Gym to reunite with their parents.
Santa Fe High School has more than 1,400 students in grades 9-12. The senior class was scheduled to graduate on Sunday.
In late February, the school was briefly put on lockdown over 'popping sounds' thought to be gunshots that were heard outside. Police arrived on campus to investigate but no threat was found.
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