TEXAS STUDENT COMMITS SUICIDE IN SCHOOL BAND HALL

March 7, 2007 - 2:22PM

GREENVILLE, Texas (AP) - A 16-year-old student fatally shot himself Wednesday morning inside the band hall at Greenville High School, police said.

The student's identity wasn't immediately released, and the police chief of this East Texas city said officers haven't found any students who witnessed the shooting.

"We had no heads up on this whatsoever," Greenville school district superintendent Lloyd Graham said. "We would have not allowed this to happen."

In a statement, city spokeswoman Lori Philyaw said police responded to the shooting at 7:14 a.m. - about 15 minutes before the first bell - and that the student was pronounced dead later at a local hospital.

School resumed Wednesday after more than 100 parents rushed to the campus to pick up their children following news of the shooting, the Herald-Banner in Greenville reported.

In the frenzy, there was a minor car crash outside the campus and one parent removed her high heels so she could sprint inside.

"It's terrible," senior Jonathan Tapp told the newspaper. "The real thing it tells me is that a kid got into school with a gun."

The student's body was transported to the Dallas County medical examiner's office for an autopsy, Philyaw said.

Greenville is a city of about 26,000 residents about 45 miles northeast of Dallas. Greenville High School has an enrollment of about 5,200 students.