Students spill out of the Italy High School cafeteria where a teenage gunman shot the 15-year-old girl he recently broke up with
Students spill out of the Italy High School cafeteria where a teenage gunman shot the 15-year-old girl he recently broke up with NBC Screenshot

A jilted teenage gunman shot the 15-year-old girl he recently broke up with at a Texas high school.

The 16-year-old suspect opened fire on his victim with a .380 semi-automatic handgun inside the Italy High School cafeteria on Monday morning (22 January), said Ellis County officials.

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She was hit several times.

The identities of the shooter and the victim have not been released. They had been in a romantic relationship which recently ended when the girl began seeing another boy, several students told local broadcaster KDFW-TV.

Around 50 students and staff were inside the cafeteria having breakfast when the shooting started, local news outlets were told.

Student Danaisia McCowan told radio station KRLD: "There were people losing their shoes and backpacks - everyone was just trying to find a way to get out of the school."

"I looked up and everybody was in shock," said Nicholas Feemster who was in the cafeteria at the time of the shooting.

"A few people couldn't move. Then we all piled for the door and we all fell over and couldn't get out. It was scary."

The shooter walked out of the cafeteria and was arrested by police without incident. The victim was airlifted from the north Texas town of almost 2,000 people to Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Details of her condition have not been released.

One other target in mind

After police regained control, students were taken to a nearby elementary school to be reunited with their families.

Fellow student McCowan claimed that the suspect had at least one other target in mind.

She said: "I did know that the guy that was shooting was mad at the girl because she had left him for somebody else. So he shot at one guy and missed him, and then he shot at her."

Another student, Hannah Haight, told broadcaster Fox4 that she turned down a date with the gunman last weekend and feared that he would be coming for her.

"I thought that was my day to die, honestly," she said.

"There are no words to describe when you are in a locked room. You don't know what door he's going to come [in through]."

Italy's school superintendent, Lee Joffre, said students would be offered counselling to help them through the incident.

"This is a trying time for our community and our school," he said.