One person is in custody after four people were wounded Wednesday morning in a shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington, Texas, that may have begun with a fight, authorities said.
Three people were taken to the hospital, including a 15-year-old boy who underwent surgery and is listed in critical condition, police said. A teenage girl suffered a minor injury and has been released. A 25-year-old man is said to be in good condition.
A pregnant woman was treated at the school and was not taken to the hospital.
Police believe some of the victims were students. Two of them are believed to have been shot.
The suspect was identified as student Timothy George Simpkins, 18. Simpkins fled the school after the shooting but turned himself in after obtaining an attorney. He has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
A .45 caliber handgun was found in the streets of nearby Grand Prairie that police believe could be the gun used in the shooting.
"The suspect has been taken into custody without incident," the Arlington Police Department said in a tweet. "Most students have been safely evacuated from Timberview High School."
Calls came in around 9:15 a.m. about a shooting at the school. The building was on lockdown, but cleared hours later. Students were then escorted to buses and taken to the Center for Performing Arts to be reunited with their parents.
Arlington Assistant Police Chief Kevin Kolbye said earlier Wednesday that the shooting was "not a random act of violence" and it was "a student who got into a fight and drew a weapon."
Several law enforcement agencies assisted with the investigation, including Arlington and Mansfield police. The Dallas Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was also on scene.
Although the school is located in Arlington, it is a part of the Mansfield Independent School District. Officials with the district said in a statement that counseling services would be available for students and parents at the Performing Arts center.
One parent told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth that her son is safe and hid underneath a desk as shots rang out.
“He’s just nervous and … in shock," the boy's mother said. "He’s just like, ‘Mama, where are you? Just make sure you’re here.’ "
A teacher at the school, Dale Topham, said he was across the hall when the shooting took place and described how students immediately turned the lights off and comforted each other as they hid.
"The students handled it pretty well themselves," he said. "They hid. They huddled together."
Timberview is a 17-year-old sprawling 75-acre, 416,000 square foot school about 27 miles southwest of downtown Dallas. It has nearly 1,900 students.
A district official said the school does not have metal detectors, but law enforcement officers are on every campus.
"Once this particular incident occurred, the response time for our law enforcement officer that was there ... was pretty swift,” a Mansfield district official said at a news conference.
This is at least the second school shooting in the state in less than a week. A Houston high school administrator was wounded Friday after a 25-year-old former student blasted his way through a glass barricade at YES Prep Southwest Secondary, authorities said.
The suspected shooter, who was armed with a rifle, surrendered when he was confronted by responding officers, Houston police Chief Troy Finner told reporters.