SEATTLE – Described as a popular student, he was a member of the football team and had just been elected a homecoming prince, representing the freshman class.
But it was 14-year-old Jaylen Ray Fryberg who stood up from his seat at a large round table at the crowded cafeteria at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Washington, Friday morning, pulled a small gun from his pocket and opened fire, dropping several students immediately to the floor, according to an eyewitness.
One unidentified female student is dead, and three of four students who were wounded were in critical condition at nearby Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, about 30 miles north of Seattle, according to local KING-TV. A fourth student was in serious condition in an ICU unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, the region's primary trauma hospital.
A reporter at Providence hospital said "the situation is grim," and "doctors are working frantically to try to save their lives."
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Fryberg died at the scene of a gunshot wound. It's unclear if it was self-inflicted or if the gun went off in a struggle with a teacher. The shooting took place at 10:39 a.m.
Seattle's KOMO-TV reported Fryberg was a member of the local Tulalip Tribe, noting tribal police were at the high school Friday afternoon along with other law-enforcement officials. Some students have said Fryberg recently was engaged in a fight sparked by racial insults.
A student who said he was a friend told Fox News that Fryberg recently broke up with a girl he had been dating since seventh grade. His Twitter page, with numerous expletive-laden displays of anger, apparently chronicle the breakup and its aftermath.
His final tweet, Thursday, said: "It won't last.... It'll never last...."
A student, Austin Taylor, told KING-TV he had just finished eating at a table next to a big round table where Fryberg was sitting with other classmates.
"All of a sudden, I saw him stand up and pull something out his pocket," Taylor said.
"I saw three kids just fall from the table, like they were falling to the ground dead," he said.
Taylor believed the victims, like the shooter, were members of the freshman class.
The shooter tried to reload, but it appeared that his gun, which Taylor described as a "cheap weapon," had jammed.
Taylor said the shooter had a "blank stare," and no words were exchanged.
"He was just staring down every one of his victims as he shot them," Taylor told KING-TV.
'Nice kid'
Taylor said he had had a conversation with Fryberg Thursday, who according to KOMO-TV had recently been elected as the freshman class's homecoming prince.
"He was fine the day before. He seemed like the normal kid we all knew," Taylor said.
He described Fryberg, however, as "a bit of a child, who got into fights." And Taylor confirmed the reports of other students who said Fryberg had been engaged in a recent fight over racist remarks.
"But he was a nice kid," Taylor added.
When the shooter tried to reload, Taylor said he ran in the opposite direction, exited the cafeteria and was escorted into a room by a teacher.
In an interview with CNN, a student said "there was blood everywhere" at the scene.
Freshman Austin Wright, who told the Seattle Times he "heard three gunshots and ran," said every exit in the lunchroom was jammed with kids escaping gunfire.
Another student, Alan Perez, told KING he had spoken with Fryberg recently, and they "were talking about regular things."
"He seemed like a normal kid," who was "popular and a member of the football team."
Brandon Carr, a fellow member of the freshman football team, said Fryberg was in good spirits at practice Thursday.
“He was all happy, dancing around and listening to music. I don’t know what happened today,” Carr told the Seattle Times.
At a news conference a little more than an hour after the shooting, Marysville Police Commander Robb Lamoureaux called the scene an active investigation but said it was under control.
“We are confident that there was only one shooter and that the shooter is dead,” Lamoureaux said.
Some of the school’s 1,200 students were bused to a nearby church, Shoultes Gospel Hall, where they were met by tearful family members.
Ayn Dietrich, an FBI spokeswoman in Seattle, told the Associated Press the agency had personnel on their way to the scene to assist with the investigation.
Another campus shooting in the Seattle area happened June 5 at Seattle Pacific University, where a gunman killed one student and wounded two others.