Students react to lockdown following shooting on Northeast ECHS campus
AUSTIN, Texas - An Austin ISD sergeant is recovering after being shot on the Northeast Early College High School campus. The Austin ISD Police Chief said at no time were students in danger, but students told FOX 7 they were anxious and scared during the lockdown.
"The minutes were passing by so slow, it was scary," Northeast Early College High School student Isis Garza said.
RELATED: Parents relieved to be safely reunited with kids following shooting at Northeast ECHS
Northeast Early College High School went on lockdown for hours.
"All we hear is lockdown, lockdown, this is not a drill," Garza said.
Austin ISD Police said at around 10:40 a.m, Tuesday, a sergeant was on campus.
"He was just doing what he normally does, the daily checks at the campus, arrived at the campus and took on gunfire," Austin ISD Police Chief Wayne Sneed said.
Chief Sneed said the sergeant was shot in the leg, taken to the hospital, and is in stable condition. It was a non-life-threatening injury.
About 15 law enforcement agencies responded. Video shared with FOX 7 by a student showed them armed inside the school.
"I was really like panicking by myself, all my home girls were calming me down, we were praying, like that was not no joke," Garza said.
At around 1 p.m., the AISD said they started a controlled release where officers went classroom by classroom and escorted students to the buses to be transported to the Delco Activity Center for parents to pick them up.
Garza said she then knew she was safe.
"Oh, I was like blessed, because I was scared thinking about my sisters, my siblings, my friends, everything, in my heart, you know," Garza said.
RELATED: Austin ISD officer shot at Northeast ECHS; classes canceled for Dec. 6
The Uvalde Foundation for Kids, a nonprofit formed after the Uvalde school shooting, is providing mental health support to the campus and school district community. They’re also offering a reward for information that leads to an arrest.
Austin ISD police provided no information about the person who shot the sergeant Tuesday morning. The AISD Police Chief said the investigation is still ongoing, and no arrests have been made.
Austin ISD said Northeast ECHS classes and after-school activities are canceled on Wednesday, December 6, but the campus will be open during normal hours to students and staff who wish or need to be on the campus. Buses will run their normal morning and afternoon routes for students to receive services or meals. An additional early afternoon bus route will run for students who wish to return home after lunch.