New Mexico school year off to a violent start

Officers search a student after the shooting. Pic/AFP

It's only a few days into the new school year, but New Mexico's largest district is reeling from a shooting that left one student dead and landed another in custody.

The gunfire at Washington Middle School during the lunch hour on Friday marked the second shooting in Albuquerque in less than 24 hours. With the city on pace to shatter its homicide record this year, top state officials said they were heartbroken by what they described as a scourge.

"These tragedies should never occur. That they do tells us there is more work to be done," Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said. Albuquerque Police Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock described the shooting as an isolated incident between two students who were believed to be about 13 years old. He said a school resource officer ran towards the two boys after gunfire erupted and prevented any other violence while tending to the boy who was shot.

Investigators were trying to determine how the student obtained the gun and what may have prompted the shooting, Hartsock said. Other students were being interviewed as detectives tried to piece together what happened, he said.

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