X

Murder-Suicide Shooting at North Texas School

Summary: An apparent murder-suicide occurred at a northern Texas school, North Lake Community College, placing the school on lockdown for over an hour.

North Lake Community College in Irving, Texas, in the northern part of the state, was on lockdown for over an hour today as police searched the campus for an active shooter after shots were reported. Nearby schools, Singley Academy and MacArthur High School, were placed on lockdown as well. Police located a male and female with gunshot wounds in two separate parts of the college.

Authorities suspect the man took his own life after shooting the woman multiple times around 11:45 a.m. The man has been identified as Adrian Victor Torres, 21. The woman was identified as 20-year-old Janeera Nickol Gonzalez. She was found in a hallway of the Performance Hall Building at a common study area. She was a current student at the school.

Torres was located inside a shower stall in Building F. The school confirmed that he was a former student of the school. He was described by the police as a white man with a buzz haircut wearing an orange tank top and black jacket carrying a handgun.

President of North Lake College, Dr. Christa Slejko said in a press conference, “North Lake students and employees followed lockdown procedures, and we are relieved that no one else was injured. We also offer our thanks to officers from the Irving Police Department, who partnered with North Lake College Police, to protect students and staff on campus.”

She continued, “This is an emotional time for the North Lake family. We’re heartbroken that such a tragedy has occurred on campus. We will address any needs for counseling on campus as soon as we re-open.” There may have been 4,000 to 5,000 people on campus at the time of the shooting.

Nasrin Nanbakhsh works as a tutor in the math learning center on campus. She had just walked out of the room she tutors in located in Building C when she saw a man shoot a woman multiple times that was sitting in a chair. She said, “I saw a guy standing and there was a girl sitting on the chair. It happened too quickly. I saw him shooting her three times. We’ve been trained how to handle these types of situations. I immediately ran back to the room I’m working in, locked the doors and asked all the students to go back to the back room and to turn off the lights and be quiet.”

Another student, Dani, reported to NBC 5, that she had just arrived on campus and was walking down stairs near the art gallery when she heard loud pops. She said, “It sounded just like gunshots…We heard the first one and thought somebody dropped something…but then it just kept going and everybody just started running. The only thing that went through my mind was to run.”

The school will remain closed until Monday for a thorough investigation to be conducted. Students and staff will be escorted by police if they need to retrieve any personal belongings before Monday.

A motive for the shooting has not yet been determined.

Do you think the shooter knew the victim? Tell us in the comments below.

To learn more about murder-suicides, read these articles:

Photo: dallasobserver.com

Amanda Griffin: