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School Shooting Reported Near Houston

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

OK. We're following reports this morning of a shooting at a school near Houston, Texas. This is Santa Fe High School, which is now on lockdown. And for the latest, let's turn to Davis Land from Houston Public Media. He's on the line with us. Hi there, Davis.

DAVIS LAND, BYLINE: Hi, there.

GREENE: So what exactly do we know at this point about what's happening there?

LAND: Well, local media are now reporting that the student has - or the shooter, who was a student, has been apprehended. Law enforcement say there's a number of fatalities at Santa Fe High School. We still don't have an exact number on that. Santa Fe is about 30 miles south of Houston - near the Gulf Coast.

GREENE: And you said this - I just want to make - underscore this. You said this was a student who has been apprehended here.

LAND: That's what local media are reporting and saying. According to local law enforcement sources, yes - that the shooter in this high school was a student there.

GREENE: And you said a number of fatalities. Do we know anything about who they might be?

LAND: I've heard that there is an officer that has been shot. Of course that's not confirmed. That was from tweets that we saw going out, though. Local media at this time is only reporting that there is a number of fatalities, so multiple but not an exact number there.

GREENE: OK, and how big a high school is this, and where exactly is it located? Are we talking about near the city of Houston?

LAND: When you talk about Houston, saying near is kind of an odd thing to say. It's about 30 miles south. It is not in a huge or dense part of the area, though it is nearby to a lot of other schools and a large population base.

GREENE: OK, and what has the response been so far? I've been, you know, looking at this on television. It looks like - I mean, there's been ambulances, helicopters. It looks like quite a scene.

LAND: Right. There have been a lot of - a large police presence. There has been ambulances, helicopters at the school. Though, when I was able to check, we only saw those ambulances parked, as well as a helicopter parked and hadn't taken off yet. I know that students were mostly evacuated to the nearby junior high and area businesses. And traffic - it looks like - is pretty tied up around there with parents trying to get to the scene or nearby to check on their kids.

GREENE: OK. Just to restate what we're learning this morning. A school shooting at Santa Fe High School near Houston, Texas, where it sounds like there have been a number of fatalities. We'll be following this. That's Houston Public Media's Davis Land. Davis, thanks for the update.

LAND: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE CIVIL WARS AND T BONE BURNETT SONG, "I DO EXIST") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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