GREAT MILLS, Maryland -- Two people are injured and the shooter dead, after a shooting at Great Mills High School in Maryland on Tuesday morning, according to Sheriff Timothy Cameron, with the St. Mary's County Sheriff's office.
"A male student produced a handgun and fired a round, wounding a female student and another male student in a hallway of Great Mills High School, just before classes had begun," said Sheriff Cameron.
The shooter was identified as 17-year-old Austin Wyatt Rollins, who had a previous relationship with the female victim. He used a Glock semi-automatic handgun and shot two students, though the sheriff said they are uncertain if the motive was to shoot both students. Law enforcement are examining if the past relationship was a motive.
The 16-year-old female has life-threatening injuries and remains in critical condition, the sheriff said. The 14-year-old male student is in stable condition. The sheriff said the shooter died at 10:41 a.m. at the hospital.
Deputy First Class Gaskill, the School Resource Officer stationed inside the school, was alerted to the shooting and responded immediately, Cameron said.
"He pursued the shooter, engaged the shooter, during which that engagement he fired a round at the shooter," Cameron said. "Simultaneously, the shooter fired a round as well."
Cameron said they will investigate to see if the resource officer's round struck the shooter. The school resource officer was not struck by any gunfire.
“He responded exactly as we train our school personnel to respond," Cameron said.
Special agents from the FBI and ATF's Baltimore offices are also investigating the shooting. The ATF is running an emergency trace on the handgun.
"We haven't found any pre-incident warnings," Cameron said. Law enforcement is currently at the shooter's home and they are also examining his phone and social media accounts.
Jonathan Freese, a student at Great Mills, called CNN from his cell phone as he was in lockdown in math class. Police were going through classrooms to clear the school, Freese said.
"I'm still a little shaken up," he said.
Freese said the school had held drills a couple of times for this kind of situation.
"I didn't really expect for this to happen. I do always feel safe, though, because they always have police at the school," he said.
"We talk about school safety, school response, weekly," the sheriff said. " In fact, we have done a number of parent meetings and community meetings on this within the last couple of months."
According to CNN's research, there have been 16 confirmed school shootings this year in the United States prior to today.
Great Mills High School has an enrollment of just over 1,500 students, about 56% of them minority students. The school has a four-year graduation rate of 91%, according to the school's 2015-16 improvement plan.
Last week, students at Great Mills High School walked out of class as part of a student-led protest against school violence in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
"We talk about school safety, school response, weekly," the sheriff said. " In fact, we have done a number of parent meetings and community meetings on this within the last couple of months."
The school was on lockdown for a brief time but students were evacuated from Great Mills High School to a reunification center at a nearby high school, the school district said.
Governor Larry Hogan said that they are considering investing over $100 million in upgrading Maryland schools, including the installation of metal detectors.
