US school shooting: One dead at Texas school after gunman attack

One student was fatally shot and another injured when a third student opened fire outside a Dallas-area high school Monday morning before being arrested on a murder charge, police said.

The shooting began on a high school campus in the suburb of Arlington around 6.55am, before many students arrived for the first day back to classes after the spring break, according to police and school district officials.

Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said Monday that a male student who was shot died at a hospital and a female victim was receiving medical care after being “grazed” by gunfire, causing injuries that aren’t life-threatening.

An Arlington police officer speaks to individuals outside of Lamar High School in Arlington during a lockdown after shooting. Photo / AP

Another male student was arrested at the scene and charged with capital murder, Jones said at an afternoon news conference. The police chief declined to identify the suspected shooter because he is a minor but said he is being held at a juvenile detention centre in the area.

The gunman never entered the Lamar High School building and was taken into custody by responding officers, Jones said, adding that the scene was secured within “minutes”. He said investigators recovered a gun used in the shooting but the shooter’s motive remains unclear.

Arlington Independent School District spokeswoman Anita Foster said the school went into lockdown during the shooting but school buses and other arriving students were diverted from the campus before classes were set to start.

Police said at 10.40am that they’d completed their search of the school building and students would be released to their guardians at a “reunification centre” starting at noon.