ERDENHEIM, Pa. – An 11th-grader brought a rifle to school and shot himself to death in a hallway Tuesday morning between classes, according to officials and a witness.
No one else was injured in the 9 a.m. shooting at Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County, the district said.
The teenager first fired shots into the ceiling in the science-wing hallway, said Michael Delaurentis, 18, who said he was about 30 feet away.
"I was walking to my class," Delaurentis said. "I just hear 'Get down!' I heard shots fired into the ceiling and I saw smoke." The teenager then shot himself, officials said.
All the students in the building were evacuated to an adjacent middle school, and all the district's schools were locked down, said Laura Feller, a spokeswoman for the Springfield Township School District. Parents trickled to the school later Tuesday morning to pick up their children.
The township police station is next door to the high school and officers were on the scene almost immediately, Feller said. The police department declined to comment when reached by phone.
The dead student was not immediately identified.
Nearly three months ago, a 10th-grader at the same school, just outside Philadelphia, was arrested for allegedly bringing in a loaded gun. The boy showed the gun to another student, and word soon trickled to a teacher and then a security officer, officials said. Police found the student and arrested him after he left campus.
"It just makes you a little in fear of the future," said Delaurentis' father, Michael. "Not just at this school, any school, because I don't think any school is 100 percent secure."
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