Two 15-year-old girls died
Friday in a shooting at an Arizona high school that initially caused
panic among parents who could not reach their children but later emerged as a
murder-suicide. Police announced that a suicide note was found at the shooting
scene near the cafeteria area of Independence High School in Glendale. They said
the girls each were shot once, were declared dead at the scene and a weapon was
found near the bodies. "Information gathered by detectives reveal the two
girls were very close friends, appeared to also be in a relationship,"
Glendale police spokeswoman Tracey Breeden said in a statement Friday
afternoon.
Breeden said it is
believed nobody witnessed the shooting. Both teens have been identified, but
Breeden said "their names will not be confirmed or released at this time
by the police department due to their juvenile status." Friends told CBS
affiliate KPHO the girls were Dorothy Dutiel and May Kieu, both
tenth graders at the school. Police responded to the call of a shooting at
Independence High School just before 8 a.m. and found the two victims' bodies
on an outdoor portion of the campus under a covered patio near the school's
cafeteria, Breeden said.
Officers arrived within
two minutes of being called, and the school of more than 2,000 students went on
lockdown, Breeden said.There were no threats made to the school or any students
or staff there, she said. One student told KPHO during a phone call that
students were heading to class at the time of the gunfire. "Me and my
friend were in front of the school and we heard like, two loud shots, and we
thought it was just someone popping a bag or something," the student said.
"We didn't know what it was, and then the bell rang and we went to
class." Cheryl Rice said she went to a store after a friend called about
the shooting and asked after Rice's 15-year-old daughter. But the girl called
as Rice arrived at the store. "She said, 'I'm OK,' so I of course started
crying," Rice said.
She said it was
horrible waiting for word about her child. "You don't know if it's your
daughter or not. You don't know who's being bullied. You don't know who is
being picked on. You don't know anything. It could be anybody," Rice said.
School district officials said parents were bused to the school to be reunited
with their children. Other students who got permission from their parents left
campus on their own. Glendale Union High School District alerted parents to the
shooting through emails and automatic phone calls and released information on
social media, Superintendent Brian Capistran said. Students typically are not
allowed to use their cellphones during lockdowns, but as calls from parents
flooded the district, officials asked teachers to have students call family,
Capistran said. Social workers and counselors will be available to students and
staff when school resumes Tuesday, the superintendent said.
