Student shoots himself in front of class at Florida high school

LECANTO -- A 15-year-old freshman shot himself in the head in a Lecanto High School English class Tuesday morning.

According to Citrus County Sheriff Jeff Dawsy, the unnamed boy suffered the self-inflicted gunshot wound in a class with about 20 other students in the room. There were no other injuries.

The school was placed on lockdown around 10 a.m. while emergency officials responded.

The boy was taken to a Tampa-area hospital in critical but stable condition. Officials recovered a semi-automatic 9 mm pistol in the classroom.

"By the grace of God, even though we had a horrific event, only one individual was injured today," Dawsy said.

The lockdown was lifted by the early part of the afternoon as worried parents came to the campus to pick up their children.

Dawsy said a school resource officer was able to talk to the student before he was transported and were able to assess that it was an isolated event and there were no other gunmen or danger to other students.

The student was "alert and cognizant of what was going on," Dawsy said.

Lecanto High students will not be in class Wednesday as the county has a holiday for Veteran's Day but classes will resume Thursday.

Counselors spoke with the students in the classroom Tuesday and will be made available for any students of faculty for the rest of the week, school official said.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Student shoots himself in front of class at Florida high school ."