A peaceful rural community of 6,500 in New Mexico got severely rattled this last Thursday when a school shooting report reached the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office. They immediately dispatched officers to the scene of the ongoing crime, and two nearby high schools got put on cautionary lockdown.
Nearby buildings also got cleared out before word reached the cops that the shooter was down. The shooting occurred during Aztec High School’s morning assembly.
“We were getting to class and saying the pledge and we started hearing banging,” one of the 900 students in attendance, Bailey, told KOB4. “We thought, ‘Oh, they’re working on the air conditioning.’ It was actually gunshots. My teacher locked us up in her closet and we stayed there for about an hour until the police came and got us.”
The school remained on lockdown and students got evacuated as state police and the FBI started conducting their investigations. The victims’ families got notified immediately, and the rest of the students’ parents gathered nervously at Aztec City Hall as officers tried to reassure them that their children were safe.
Close family relatives were also worried, with Sarah Murray, the aunt of an Aztec student, saying, “I was just sick to my stomach until I heard from my sister. She (my niece) was OK,” she told HuffPost. “Now I’m just worried about other kids whose parents I am friends with. We all know each other in San Juan County.”
The Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman, Jayme Harcrow, reinforced the close-knit nature of the community in her statement to PEOPLE, saying, “It’s horrible – it’s a great community and we love this place. Things can happen anywhere, but it’s shocking when they happen in a place like here.”
Residents of this oil and gas country near Navajo Nation are being told to stay clear of the area. Regarding the incident, the Nation’s President, Russel Begaye, said, “It’s tragic when our children are harmed in violent ways, especially on school campuses. We express our condolences to those families who have been harmed. Our prayers go out to all those affected by this tragedy and everyone throughout the San Juan County.”
No information identifying the shooter or the fatally hurt students has been released. The circumstances surrounding the gunman’s death are also unknown.
This article was inspired by DAILY NEWS // Two students, gunman dead in New Mexico school shooting