One person is arrested after Texas school was forced to lock down after a juvenile was spotted with a gun tucked into his waistband walking around on campus
A suspect is in custody after a Texas high school was placed on lockdown on Tuesday afternoon because of an 'active situation' involving a school shooter.
Weatherford High School west of Dallas was locked down with students forced to shelter either in their classrooms or in some cases the campus welding shop as police cornered the suspect.
The older sibling of a pupil at the school shared a terrifying message from her younger sister just before 3pm.
Weatherford High School west of Dallas went into lockdown after a shooter was detected to be on campus
A sister of a student at the school posted her sibling's terrifying text during the lockdown
'You don't know terrifying until you get a text from your sibling that the high school has a shooter. Please pray for Weatherford and the students at the high school,' Leigh O'Neil wrote.
'Girl there's an active shooter outside the ag building omg - my first school shooting. I'm fine we're all safe but it's really scary cuz he's like. Right outside,' the text read.
'I'm fine but it's super scary. I didn't look at the shooter bc my teacher was yelling at us not to look but we've been moved to the welding shop. There's a billion cops and troopers and swat card outside,' the student continued in a message full of fear.
Police say that a juvenile was spotted on campus with a handgun tucked into his waistband, hidden under his t-shirt.
The suspect was seen near one of the school's outbuildings and not the main campus.
After police arrived on scene, they quickly tracked down the suspect and followed him into some nearby woods where he began making threats against himself.
Police say that a juvenile was spotted on campus with a handgun tucked into his waistband, hidden under his t-shirt. Pictured, Weatherford High School in Weatherford, Texas
As police approached him, he shot himself in the abdomen at which point police took him into custody and brought him to the hospital for treatment of his gunshot wounds.
About an hour after the lockdown began, the order was lifted with Weatherford police stating that a suspect was in custody.
'Campus has been secured by law enforcement and there are no further threats,' the WPD tweeted.
The police department also let parents know what was happening.
It does not appear that any students or staff were harmed or even threatened during the time the shooter was on campus.
The local police tweeted out information to the local community as the situation unfolded
The police department also let parents know what was happening
'We are notifying you that Weatherford High School is currently on a lockdown because of an active situation on school grounds. Police have been notified and are on campus,' read the original message. 'All students and staff are safe. Again, we want to reassure parents that the situation is contained and that our students and staff are safe within our buildings.'
A follow-up message was then sent to tell parents that everyone was safe.
'We want to reassure parents that the situation was contained and that our students and staff were safe within our buildings. Students are currently being released and buses will run on a normal schedule.'