Police Shoot & Kill Armed 8th Grader in Texas

Police shot and killed an eighth grader brandishing a handgun in a Texas middle school hallway Wednesday.

Police received a call around 8 a.m. saying there was someone with a weapon at Cummings High School in Brownsville, Texas, the Associated Press reported. Officers found the student with a handgun in a hallway and shot him after he "engaged" police, a district spokeswoman said in a statement.

He was taken to a nearby medical center where he later died, the Brownsville Herald reported. His name has not been released.

Local ABC affiliate KXXV-TV reported that police told the student to put his weapon down and fired three times after he refused to comply.

One additional student has been detained for questioning, according to the Herald. No one else was injured.

Brownsville police Detective J.J. Trevino told the AP a school administrator noticed the student carrying the gun and called police. Administrators immediately placed the school on lockdown.

Trevino said investigators hadn't determined whether the student fired any shots, and said he had no information on why he might have had the gun.

"It's still under investigation, as far as how he came about to bringing the weapon or if he encountered anybody or anything else," Trevino said.

A seventh grade student told the Associated Press he was two classrooms from where the shooting took place and said the school was already on lockdown when he heard three shots. Miguel Grimaldo, 12, said police later escorted students out of the building, where they boarded buses that took them to a nearby park. His mother picked him up late Wednesday morning.

"For now they're not saying anything, just pick up your kids," the boy's mother, Maria Grimaldo, told the AP.

Initial media reports said the armed student was 15 years old, though his age is now unclear. The shooting remains under investigation.

Brownsville is at the southern tip of Texas, 280 miles from San Antonio.

This post has been updated since it was first published.

This is a breaking news story. Updates will be added.