Students and parents at an Austin, Texas high school were in shock on Tuesday after a student carried out his threat to shoot himself to death on campus.
According to KVUE-TV, the unidentified 16-year-old Lanier High School student had already threatened to commit suicide online, having posted pictures of himself with a gun to his head, but friends did not believe he would go through with it. Instead, the boy reportedly killed himself in the school courtyard during the lunch period. No other students were injured.
"All of a sudden I heard this loud 'pow,'" one parent, Jennifer Viti, told KTBC-TV. "The boy walked right past me and I can see on his facial expression something was wrong. It sounded like loud firecrackers, but it was just one shot."
The student reportedly had a young son of his own; KTBC reported that his final post on his Facebook page stated, "I don't know if this is going to affect people or if ya'll [sic] are even going to care but I just want to say I'm taking my life away not for my ex but cause I'm tired to be who I am I have give my mom a lot of pain [and] trouble."
A spokesperson for the Austin Independent School District told kTBC that no school in the district has metal detectors, and that officials are not allowed to search students' bags for firearms or other banned items.
Watch KVUE's report, aired Tuesday, below.
