A 14-year-old Arizona boy found dead in an elementary school bathroom Tuesday died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police confirmed Wednesday.
According to KOLD, Coronado Elementary School in Sierra Vista went under lockdown at around 9:20 a.m. Tuesday following reports of an active shooter. Responding police canvassed the campus and found the eighth-grader deceased in the school’s bathroom.
“The investigation in the case indicates this incident was a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
“The weapon was recovered and has been identified as belonging to a family member.”
Students were cleared from the K-8 school and met with their parents at a nearby church.
“The number one goal is to protect those students and that happened,” Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels said.
Reports indicated that police were originally treating the shooting as a homicide. Speculations swirled around teen’s death, prompting law enforcement to request that the public not spread rumors as they conducted their investigation.
“Let the facts be the facts,” Dannels commented, according to the Douglas Dispatch.
Additionally, Cochise County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Carol Capas declined to tell the Arizona Daily Star how many times the weapon was fired or if the student left a suicide note.
Authorities will not be releasing the student’s identity but did confirm that they’ve spoken with the boy’s family.
“It was tough this morning,” Dannels said.
“Three decades of doing this job and it pulls at your heartstrings doing what we did this morning.”
The Sierra Vista School District said that crisis counselors from multiple counties will be present at the elementary school in the following days.
[Featured Image: KOLD]