News / Society

Two teenage girls killed in Arizona shooting

Friday, 12 February 2016 10:05 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 12 February 2016 11:16 PM ]

Two 15-year-old girls were shot and killed at a high school in Arizona on Friday morning.

Two teenage girls have been shot and killed during a high school shooting in Glendale, Arizona, the city police confirm.

The 15-year-old girls were each shot once at Independence high school on Friday morning, the Associated Press quoted Officer Tracey Breeden as saying, noting that officials were not searching for any suspects.

“This is not an active shooter situation, and we realized that once we got on scene,” Breeden said, adding that police found a weapon near their bodies.

The situation suggested the possibility of a murder-suicide or double-suicide, but Breeden said no determination had been made in that regard.

One of the victims was identified as May Kieu, according to her sister.

The local police department assured parents that the incident was “isolated” and the school and neighborhood faced no more threats.

The incident prompted officials to lock the school campus down Friday morning, but overwhelming calls from anxious parents forced the officials to allow using of cell phones by students, an act usually prohibited during lockdowns.

The Glendale school district also set up a staging area where worried parents could pick up their children, officials said.

Arizona governor Doug Ducey offered his sympathies, saying he was monitoring the situation.

Founded in 1977, the public high school has about 2,000 students and is 10 miles away from Phoenix.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), firearms kill more than 33,000 people in the US every year, a number that includes accidental discharge, murder and suicides.

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