high school student has shot himself in the back of the head while inside a police car – after officers took him into custody to prevent him hurting himself.
The unidentified teenager from North Shore High School in Houston, Texas survived the shooting and was conscious when he arrived at hospital.
Officers said he became depressed after breaking up with a girlfriend in September, and on Wednesday morning, he texted a fellow student, indicating he intended to hurt himself.
Scene: A high school student has shot himself in the head while he was in the back of a police car, pictured
The fellow student alerted campus officials, and they found the troubled teenager in a restroom at the high school, Click2Houston reported.
He appeared to be mentally unstable, and it took two deputy constables to remove him from the restroom, officials said.
He was taken into custody for his own safety and a deputy constable searched and handcuffed the student and put him into the back of a patrol car.
While handcuffed in the moving car, the student retrieved a gun that had been hidden beneath his t-shirt and shot himself in the back of the head.
Plan: They took him into custody in a police car but he had managed to conceal a weapon under his t-shirt
The police car was still on campus at the time of the shooting and was driving towards an ambulance, which was to take the student to hospital.
He was taken to Ben Taub hospital and listed in critical condition.
‘Obviously we have had a rough day with an extremely unexpected event,’ Jonathan Frey, spokesman for the Galena Park Independent School District, told the Houston Chronicle.
Police Capt. John Moore said it was unclear whether the student shot himself intentionally, but officials said the boy had been depressed since his break up.
Frey added that he did not know whether officers found a weapon on the student during the search, and does not know how the boy grabbed the weapon while handcuffed.
Worried: Cars line up as parents collect their children from the school where the shooting took place
‘I know he was searched. He might have had it hidden really well,’ he said.
The Galena Park Independent School District cancelled all activities for the day. Students were not sent home, but concerned parents were told they could pick up their children if they wished.
It echoes a story in July, when an Arkansas man, Chavis Carter, 21, fatally shot himself in the head while handcuffed in the back of a police car after he was picked up during a traffic stop.
Officials say he was handcuffed from behind and had been searched twice for weapons. An autopsy report found he tested positive for methamphetamine, anti-anxiety medication and other drugs.
