Suicides At Schools In Michigan And Texas

Wednesday, March 7th 2007, 12:31 pm

By: News On 6

MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) _ A teenager shot his former girlfriend four times outside her high school, then killed himself in one of two fatal U.S. school shootings Wednesday, authorities said.

Jessica Forsyth, 17, was taken to Hurley Medical Center in Flint, where she was in serious but stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Christie White said Wednesday afternoon.

Midland Police Chief James St. Louis said the gunman died in the parking lot.

The boy, a 17-year-old from Coleman, had gone to H.H. Dow High School on Wednesday morning to try to talk to Jessica, but he was turned away by school officials, the police chief said. The boy then called her and asked her to meet him outside the building.

After a conversation in the parking lot, the boy pulled a gun out of a backpack and shot her four times before turning the gun on himself, St. Louis said.

The girl's mother, who had dropped her daughter off at the school, saw the shooting from her car and drove between the two to try to protect the girl, authorities said.

The school, about 100 miles northwest of Detroit, was locked down after the shooting. Dow High is named after the founder of chemical giant Dow Chemical Co. and has 1,500 students.

In Greenville, Texas, a 16-year-old student fatally shot himself inside the band hall at Greenville High School, police said.

The student's identity wasn't immediately released.

Police responded to the shooting about 15 minutes before the first bell, and the student was pronounced dead later at a hospital, Greenville city spokeswoman Lori Philyaw said in a statement.

The student's body was transported to the Dallas County medical examiner's office for an autopsy, Philyaw said.

Greenville is a city of about 26,000 residents about 45 miles northeast of Dallas. Greenville High has an enrollment of about 5,200 students.