ENNIS, Texas — A 16-year-old student shot himself to death at a high school Tuesday despite a teacher's efforts to get him to give up the gun, officials said.
Police said Jay Douglas Goodwin, a sophomore at Ennis High School, shot himself in the head in front of an English teacher and a female student.
Students were sent to a cafeteria and an athletic field after the shooting. The school has nearly 1,300 students.
Police Chief Dale Holt said Goodwin entered the classroom of 18 students, pulled a handgun from his backpack and ordered the class to one side of the room.
The teacher, Andrea Webb, persuaded Goodwin to release everyone except for herself and one girl. Goodwin then fired a shot at a television before turning the handgun on himself, Holt said.
Webb and the female student weren't injured.
Katie Holubar, a freshman, said Goodwin often talked about guns. She and other students said Goodwin had a crush on the girl, whom police did not identify.
"It is believed to be a girlfriend, at least in his mind," Holt said.
Goodwin was not known as a problem student, Harper said. Goodwin's uncle is the school's band director, and his grandfather is on the school board.
Ashley McCaffety, a sophomore, said the school declared a "code red" after the shooting, meaning classroom doors were locked, lights were turned off and students were ordered under their desks while authorities determined what was happening.
"The teachers were telling us to stay calm but it was scary," she said.
The school does not have metal detectors, but Superintendent Mike Harper said they would revisit the issue as well as other security measures.
"You just don't think it would happen here. I'm still shaking," said Tona McCaffety, who picked up her two children a few hours after the incident.
Ennis, a community of about 17,000, is 30 miles south of Dallas.