Counselors on hand at Phoenix-area school day after shooting

By 11:30 a.m., Glendale, Arizona, School district Superintendent Brian Capistran was organizing buses to pick up anxious parents and bring them to Independence High School, to reunite them with their children.

A student says she was shocked to learn that two teens died in a shooting at her suburban Phoenix high school.

They said they were beyond relieve when they received a call or a text message from their sons and daughters telling them they were OK.

Another 15-year-old girl, who was named as May Kieu, was also discovered beside her, along with a gun and a suicide note, police said.

Police say nobody witnessed the shooting, but the incident initially caused widespread panic among parents who could not reach their children, and the school was put on lockdown.

The news outlet added that Breeden said the girls were shot down outside the school and investigators believed at least one of the teens may have fired the fatal shots. Parents were able to pick their children up at a nearby department store. Dozens of anxious parents were gathering, waiting to reunite with their children.

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. Law enforcement revealed that each girl was shot once and a weapon was found near the bodies. Many crowded a nearby Walmart parking lot.

One parent, Cheryl Rice, said she went to a store after a friend called about the shooting and asked about Rice’s 15-year-old daughter.

The shooting was reported at Independence High School, about 12 miles outside of Phoenix.

Arizona governor Doug Ducey released a statement following the school shooting, thanking the first responders, police officers, teachers, and school administrators for their “swift response and diligent work” in keeping students, staff, and parents safe, and calm during and after the tragedy.

Glendale Officer Tracey Breeden told reporters Friday that she doesn’t know whether the victims at Independence High School are students. According to Glendale Police, the situation was not an active shooter situation and there are no outstanding suspects. The school is on lockdown. Streets are closed to traffic in the residential area around the campus. The shooting led police to lock down the school of around 2,000.