Jaylen Fryberg opened fire in the cafeteria of Marysville-Pilchuck High School at 10.39 am yesterday before fatally shooting himself
High school student, Jaylen Fryberg, cafeteria, Marysville-Pilchuck High School, US school shooting, 1 killed, 4 injured
Seattle: Distraught over a recent breakup with his girlfriend, freshman football player and Homecoming prince, Jaylen Fryberg, opened fire in the cafeteria of Marysville-Pilchuck High School at 10.39 am yesterday, killing one classmate and injuring four others before fatally shooting himself. A cafeteria workerattempted to intervene in the attack but did not succeed.
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A photo of Jaylen Fryberg from a social networking site
Fryberg was the son of a prominent family in the Tulalip tribe of Native Americans. While it was unclear why he targeted students, his posts on social media suggested that he was upset over personal relationships. “It won’t last ... it’ll never last,” he said in his last post on Twitter on Thursday. Two days earlier he wrote: “It breaks me.... It actually does...I know it seems like I’m sweating it off...But I’m not...And I never will be.”
After the shooting, students and teachers, who had huddled in the school gym, were evacuated in a school bus and driven to a nearby church, where they were reunited with frantic parents
The Marysville Police said the dead student was a girl. Four others — two girls and two boys — have been hospitalised, with at least three in critical condition.
While there were reports that Fryberg had been bullied for being Native American, and had gotten into a fistfight with another football player about two weeks ago, other friends admitted they didn’t notice any strange behaviour.
Students, parents, teachers and neighbours attended the prayer meet at the Grove Church yesterday. They observed a moment of silence for the deceased. pics/ap
After the shooting, students and teachers, who had huddled in the school gym, were evacuated from there by a school bus to a nearby church, where they were reunited with frantic parents. Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring said he had been in contact with state and local leaders, including leaders of the Tulalip tribe. The shooting is the second to rock a Seattle-area campus in the last five months. In June, a gunman opened fire at Seattle Pacific University, killing one student and injuring three. “We’re deeply saddened by the tragic events today,” Nehring said. The injured students were taken to nearby Providence Regional Medical Center, where Dr Joanne Roberts said they were being treated for serious head wounds with massive bleeding.
One girl was still in surgery till late yesterday.