A student died and another teen was injured during a school shooting at an Alabama High School on Wednesday. The police described the shooting as an accident, adding that it happened when a “gun discharged.”
The Washington Post reported that the incident took place at Huffman High in Birmingham between 3:15 and 3:30 p.m., and sparked a brief lockdown at the school.
Birmingham Police Chief Orlando Wilson stated that the incident left a 17-year-old girl dead and a 17-year-old boy wounded.
“At this particular time, we’re considering it accidental until the investigation takes us elsewhere,” the chief said during a news conference. Although the chief did not say if the suspected shooter was a student but added: “It’s not a situation where someone from the outside came into the school.”
“Two students were involved in a shooting during dismissal today at Huffman High School,” said Birmingham City Schools in a statement.
“The school was placed on a brief lockdown, and police were called to the scene. Students have been released and police are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting,” the statement read.
Huffman High is the biggest school in Birmingham City with approximately 1,400 students.
Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Lisa Herring stated that the school system is going to begin adding security officers at all of its schools and deploy a crisis response team to the high school as a response to the shooting.
The Alabama shooting comes only three weeks after the Florida shooting where 17 people were killed when a former student opened fire Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in South Florida with an assault rifle. The Birmingham incident is the third this year that left students dead.
According to a Washington Post analysis, more than 150,000 students attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting on campus since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.
The Florida school massacre sparked fierce debate in Washington over what measures need to be taken in order next school shooting to be prevented. Students, as well as many Democrats, started pushing for tougher gun control while President Donald Trump called for training and arming teachers so they can respond to mass shooters.
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