Alpine Shooter, 14, Had Planned To Shoot Stepbrother, Then Herself, Investigators Say

Investigators have concluded that a 14-year-old female freshman who shot and wounded a fellow student at Alpine High School on Sept. 8 before killing herself had planned to shoot her 14-year-old stepbrother before shooting herself.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Chief Russell Scown of the Alpine Police Department says the girl's plan was foiled when a 17-year-old junior walked into the girls' restroom at the school where the freshman girl was arming herself Thursday. The shooter, whom police haven't identified, aimed her gun at the older girl, who ducked and began running when she was shot in the lower body. Officials said that day that the wound was not life-threatening.

The freshman then shot and killed herself. Police say no others at the school were targeted.

Original post: Sept. 8
 
A 14-year-old freshman shot and injured a female student at Alpine High School in West Texas just before 9 a.m. Thursday. The shooter later died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities say.

The name of the deceased shooter hasn’t been released. Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson says she moved with her family to Alpine about six months ago. 

A motive behind the shooting remains unclear.

Dodson says the injured student ran outside seeking help and was taken to a hospital with injuries that weren't considered life threatening.

A second person was injured in “friendly fire”

A law enforcement officer was also injured in the leg by accidental "friendly fire" during a gunfire exchange among police and presumably the shooter. But the shooter was not the person who injured the agent.

Dodson says the officer’s injuries aren’t life-threatening.

Shooting spurred widespread hoax

Following the shooting, area public schools and Sul Ross State University were put on lockdown because a bomb threat was issued by a male caller.

"Y'all better leave me alone," the male caller said, according to the sheriff.

Authorities had cleared the threat at the university by 2 p.m., but some officers remained at the school out of caution. Further threats spread to an Alpine hospital and a motel in Marathon, Texas. Drug dogs were being flown to the region to clear those threats, the sheriff says. 

The sheriff said the threat was later deemed a hoax, but that it required officers to rush to the university from the high school.

Dodson said the bomb threats weren't connected to the shooting and that authorities were considering federal charges against the caller.

State leaders offer sympathy

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he's monitoring developments in the deadly shooting at the West Texas high school and promises to provide support for law enforcement agencies investigating the case.

Paxton released a statement Thursday offering prayers and sympathy for those affected by "this senseless act of violence."

Alpine is a town of about 5,900 people some 70 miles from the Mexico border.

The Associated Press and Marfa Public Radio contributed to this report.