Deaths of two teenage girls in Arizona was a murder-suicide, police say

The shooting deaths of two teenage girls at a high school in Glendale, Arizona were a case of murder-suicide, the police said.

Glendale police spokeswoman Tracey Breeden said a suicide note was located at the scene of Friday morning’s shooting at Independence High School. 

She said both victims were shot once and a weapon was found near the bodies.

Breeden said the teens had been positively identified, but their names were not being released by police because they were juveniles.

The girls, both 15-year-old sophomores, were each shot once, Breeden said.

“This is not an active shooter situation, and we realized that once we got on the scene,” Breeden said. She could not confirm if one of the girls had killed themselves but said to parents: “Your children are safe.”

“This occurred in an isolated area,” Glendale police sergeant David Vidaure added.

The campus at Independence high school, located in a suburb of Phoenix, was on lockdown on Friday morning. About 2,000 students are enrolled at the public high school.

Earlier on Friday, Breeded had said, “This is not an active shooter situation, and we realized that once we got on the scene,” Breeden said, and saying to parents: “Your children are safe.”

Breeden said the police department received a call just before 8am from the school to report a shooting. Police officers were on the scene in less than two minutes and found the bodies of the two students near the school’s cafeteria under a covered patio area. The girls were declared dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on who may have fired the shots.

“It’s a tragic incident,” Breeden said. “Two young people are dead this morning. We send our condolences out to the family, the loved ones and the friends of those two young girls.”

Superintendent Brian Capistran said social workers from the school district were providing support for students and faculty.