Police kill armed eighth-grader in Texas school

Nancy Blanco and her husband Arturo Carreon comforted their two children, Ashley Carreon,12, and Josey Lynn Carreon,13, after being reunited with them at Dean Porter Park in Brownsville,Texas Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. The park is across the street from Cummings Middle School. A 15 year-old student was shot and killed by Brownsville police at the school after he was seen brandishing a weapon inside the school. ((AP Photo/The Brownsville Herald, Brad Doherty))

BROWNSVILLE, Texas?Officers summoned to a locked-down Texas middle school on Wednesday after a student was seen brandishing a handgun in the hallways shot and killed the eighth-grader after he ignored their order to drop the weapon and instead pointed it at them, police said.

The Cummings Middle School student, who police did not immediately identify but whose godmother identified him as 15-year-old Jaime Gonzalez, was spotted holding the weapon in the school at about 8 a.m., shortly first period classes began, district officials said. School administrators quickly called police and ordered the lockdown.

As teachers locked their classroom doors and turned off the lights, some frightened students climbed under their desks for comfort. They could hear police charge down the hallway and shout "put down the gun." Then several shots, three of them, most students said.

The officers shot the boy after he pointed the gun at them, Brownsville police detective J.J. Trevino told The Associated Press. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

"It's still under investigation, as far as how he came about to bringing the weapon or if he encountered anybody or anything else," Trevino said. The district issued a statement backing the police version of events, and police scheduled a news conference for later Wednesday to discuss the case.

Norma Leticia Navarro, the boy's godmother, told The Associated Press she couldn't imagine why he would have brought a gun to school.

"Jaime was not a bad kid, and I wish I could ask him why he did that, why did you put yourself in that position?"

Still, she said she understood that police were doing their job, but she expressed frustration that a child was killed and wondered if something else could have been done.

"I'm not saying he was perfect or an angel, but he was a very giving person."

She said both of his parents work, and that his stepmother raised him from infancy and was very strict with him.

With police and district officials saying little about the shooting in its immediate aftermath, those details that did trickle out came mainly from students at the 750-pupil school.

Jade Rodriguez, an 11-year-old sixth-grader, said the ordeal was terrifying.

"I was nervous. I was under the desk," she said. Administrators said the school would be closed on Thursday but that students could attend classes at a nearby elementary school if they wished. Jade said she too afraid and would stay home.

Robert Valle, 13, said he heard police running and yelling "put the gun down" before the gunfire erupted.

Gina Rangel, 14, was in her first period class in the gym when the school went on lockdown.

Jennifer Davila, left, tightly embraces her son Jordan as he is escorted into a park near Cummings Middle School, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in Brownsville Texas, after a fatal shooting at the school Wednesday morning. Officers summoned to a locked-down Texas middle school on Wednesday shot and killed an eighth-grader after he ignored their order to drop a handgun he was brandishing and instead pointed it at them, police said. ((AP Photo/The Brownsville Herald, Yvette Vela))

She said friends who were closer to the shooting said the boy was near the cafeteria and had said he was going to kill everyone.

"I am worried (about the school's safety) because if this happened once, kids imitate," said her mother Irma Rangel.

As word of the shooting spread quickly through the city, which is on Texas' southern tip and is beset by spillover violence from Mexico's drug war, frantic parents rushed to reach their children.

Those who got their early on were able to retrieve their frightened children, but some who arrived later found the street outside the school lined with squad cars and blocked off. About two hours after the shooting, dozens of frustrated parents and relatives flooded out of the park pavilion without their children after school officials announced that all remaining children had been bused to a high school and could be picked up there.

Julie Tomalenas waited for an hour to pick up her 13-year-old sister before being told of the relocation.

"It was very stressful not knowing if she was OK, where she was, when we could see her again," Tomalenas said.

The lockdown was lifted about two hours after the shooting, but the students and employees were relocated while officers investigated at the school, Brown said.

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Associated Press writers Diana Heidgerd and Danny Robbins in Dallas contributed to this story.

Source: http://www.ydr.com/ci_19674218?source=rss_viewed

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