There was a shooting at my school today. Now, before you freak out, yes, me and every other student is fine. From what I know, a teacher-in-training (or something like that) was in the parking lot when her boyfriend/husband (I've heard conflicting reports) shot her and then shot himself. He died on the spot, while she was transported to a hospital, where she later died.

Here's the story from my EXCITING point of view:
I was just sitting in 4th period, English class, doing my reading assignment, when at about 10:45, a message comes from the intercom: "Students, this is a CODE RED. Get in a classroom IMMEDIATELY!". Now, all the schools in my school district call a Code Red at the drop of a hat, but this time it was different. The person on the intercom sounded frightened. I knew it was actually something serious this time.

While all the kids around me were making jokes about this, I was legitimately scared. I was really worried about what was going on. Was there someone shooting kids? Was there a threat of a bomb? I was really worried. We didn't hear from the Office for a while, but when the Code Red hadn't called off by 11:30, the end of fourth period, students started getting scared. Since after that, we technically weren't in class, we were allowed to use our phones.

Rumors started popping up. When I first heard that there was a murder-suicide involving a teacher, I didn't really believe it. I knew that it takes a while after emergencies to get the facts straight, and that generally, people will exaggerate when they're panicked. So I kinda dismissed the rumor as bull. At about the same time, we got another announcement, this time telling teachers to check their email. As my teacher checked his email, I could tell by the worried look on his face that it was something bad.

Despite this, he kept calm and collected, never showing any worry in front of us. He decided to show us some funny Internet videos. I knew that this was a distraction, that he was trying to keep us from thinking about what was going on (and I would later respect his decision to do this). When asked, he refused to tell us what the email said or to turn on the news, stating, "I don't need people freaking out".

At about 12:00, I got a text message from my mom, asking if I was okay. I responded that I was, then she told me that there was nothing for us students to worry about, and she confirmed that it was a murder-suicide involving a teacher. I kept in touch with her through text messages until my phone just randomly decided to stupid sending them (shitty Virgin Mobile). Fortunately, my friend, Amber, kept me in touch with her the rest of the time with her phone.

At about 1:15, they lifted the lockdown and my mom was getting ready to pick me up. Unfortunately, before she got there, they released the first "wave" of students: Students whose parents were already there, waiting for them. This did not apply to me, since my mom was a ways away. So, I had to continue to wait, as did my mom, when she finally arrived.

I don't remember when the second "wave" (bus riders) was released. I'm guessing around 1:45? I don't know. But finally, at 2:30, they released the third "wave": Everyone else. A huge crowd, including myself walked out of the school to meet our parents.

So yeah, That's my story. It was definitely bad, and it was definitely a scary experience, but the way I see it, it could have been worse. It wasn't like it was someone shooting at random students. It was the kind of violence that (unfortunately) happens every day. It just happened on a school this time.

UPDATE: It has been confirmed that the teacher taught English to kids who only spoke Spanish (because we're relatively close to the Mexican border, we have a big Mexican population, and thus, people who only speak Spanish). It has been also confirmed that the man who shot her was not a boyfriend, but a husband of 40 years. It is worth noting that their anniversary was apparently a few days ago. No motive for this has been found, but there are rumors that he thought she was cheating on him.

Apparently, this is the story: She was getting off work. She got picked up by her husband every day, but this time, he pulled out a gun on her. She attempted to run, and was shot either 2 or 3 times by him before he shot himself in the head. As this happened during 1st lunch, many students witnessed this. A sheriff on campus heard the gunshots and the screams and reported it. The school was immediately put on lockdown.

I figure I should also talk about our first day after this event. It was weird. I expected it to be pretty melancholy. And it was, to an extent. Of course, the event was all everyone was talking about. It didn't help that in the parking lot at the front of the school (where the shooting took place), the area where the bodies were was very obvious, since it had been cleaned, but nowhere around it had been. But, other than the principal delivering a message over the video announcements about the incident and everyone talking about it, it was a normal day. ‎Robert Frost once said, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." That was proven true today.