A high school in Matthews, North Carolina, has resumed classes just hours after a student shot and killed another on campus.
Butler High School, which is about 12 miles southeast of Charlotte, went into lockdown around 7 a.m. Monday after a male student fired a gun at another male student during a disagreement in a crowded hallway, as reported by The Associated Press.
The victim was taken to a hospital, where he later died of his injuries, officials said.
The suspect has been taken into custody and questioned by police.
Authorities have not released any names nor the ages of the students.
By 9:30 a.m., Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools announced that the lockdown had been lifted.
Parents were the. allowed to pick up their children, however for the remaining students, classes resumed as normal, the school district tweeted.
UPDATE: The lockdown at Butler High School has been lifted. The campus has been secured; no immediate danger exists. Butler families may now pick students up from the entrance of the Butler High only. Families arriving to pick up students will be directed by law enforcement. pic.twitter.com/6dikWFweK4
— CMS Media Relations (@CMS_MR) October 29, 2018
Counseling has been made available to students and staff members due to tbe shooting, the school district said.
Clayton Wilcox, superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, said that many students witnessed the shooting.
“We’re incredibly saddened by the fact that we had a loss of life on one of our campuses today,” Wilcox said to Associated Press. “What makes it doubly difficult is that it was one of our students who was the shooter.”
“I don’t know how a young person gets a handgun in the state of North Carolina,” he added.
Gun violence in our schools just never seem to end. What can we as parents do about it?