Two people died on Wednesday in an apparent murder-suicide at a Texas community college, prompting an active-shooter alert that instructed students and employees to barricade themselves in rooms. It was the second deadly attack on a Texas campus this week.
Adrian Victor Torres, 21, shot and killed Janeera Nickol Gonzalez, 20, in a common study area at North Lake College, a two-year school in Irving, before taking his own life in a locker room shower in a nearby building, the Irving Police Department said. Irving is about 16 kilometres west of Dallas.
Irving police spokesman James McLellan said it doesn't appear anyone else was hurt in the shooting.
Irving Police said on Twitter:
A separate Twitter post shared details of the investigation.
No one else was wounded in the shooting, which occurred at one of the main buildings on campus, McLellan said.
A math tutor at North Lake College, Nasrin Nanbakhsh, said she saw a man shoot a woman three times in a hallway.
“I saw a guy standing and there was a girl sitting on a chair. I saw him shooting her three times,” Nanbakhsh told reporters.
Nanbakhsh said she ran back to a room, locked the doors, turned the lights off and waited for help to arrive. She said she also emailed her supervisors to let them know what was happening.
“I just saw the gun, as soon as I looked at it. I saw the gun, and he shot her three times, and it was too close,” Nanbakhsh said.
North Lake College had issued an alert to students late Wednesday morning telling them to barricade themselves in the nearest room and wait for further instructions from police.
He Stalked Her, Says Victim’s Mother
Gonzalez's mother Lucia told an ABC affiliate that Torres "had been stalking her for quite a while but she didn't make anything of it."
The family told the television channe WFAA that the two never dated and were not friends. Gonzalez was studying kinesiology and planned to graduate in a few weeks.
“There is no justice for my daughter,” Gonzalez said.
College officials announced the school would be closed for the rest of the week.
On Monday, a man enrolled at the University of Texas went on a stabbing spree with a large hunting knife at the school's Austin campus about 200 miles (320 km) south of Irving, killing one student and wounding three, police said.
On Monday, one person was killed and three others injured in a stabbing attack at the University of Texas in Austin. Police said the suspect in that attack was suffering from some mental difficulties. He has not been charged.
(With inputs from media agencies.)
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