Cops: 15-Year-Old Girls' Deaths Were Murder-Suicide

They found suicide note near bodies of 15-year-olds
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 13, 2016 7:31 AM CST
Cops: High School Double Shooting Was Murder-Suicide
Three siblings embrace, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, in Glendale, Ariz., after two students were shot and killed at Independence High School in the Phoenix suburb.    (Matt York)

A shooting at a suburban Phoenix high school that killed two 15-year-old girls and caused panic among parents was a murder-suicide, police said. Police announced that a suicide note was found at the scene of the shooting Friday morning near the cafeteria area of Independence High School in Glendale, the AP reports. They said the girls each were shot once, were declared dead at the scene, and a weapon was found near the bodies. "Information gathered by detectives reveal the two girls were very close friends, appeared to also be in a relationship," Glendale police spokeswoman Tracey Breeden said in a statement Friday afternoon. It is believed nobody witnessed the shooting, Breeden said.

Both 10th-graders have been identified, but Breeden said "their names will not be confirmed or released at this time by the police department due to their juvenile status." Hours before the lockdown of the school was lifted, hundreds of worried parents crowded the parking lots of nearby discount and convenience stores. Cheryl Rice says she went to a store after a friend called about the shooting and asked about Rice's 15-year-old daughter. But the girl called to say she was safe as Rice arrived at the store. She says it was horrible waiting for word about her child. "You don't know if it's your daughter or not," she says. "You don't know who's being bullied. You don't know who is being picked on. You don't know anything. It could be anybody." (More Arizona stories.)

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