GREENVILLE — A Greenville High School junior shot and killed himself at school Wednesday morning.

The male student, whose name the Herald-Banner has chosen not to publish, entered the instrument room, which is a storage area for band instrumets located next to the school’s band hall, around 7:15 a.m. and shot himself, according to a statement released by the district.

Initial reports had indicated that the student shot himself in front of several of his peers, but Greenville Police Chief Harold Roseberry said officers have not found any students who actually saw the incident take place.

The student was then taken to Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville, where he was pronounced dead around 8 a.m.

“Our thoughts, prayers and concerns are with the student’s immediate family as well as his extended school family,” the district said in its statement.

Both students and parents seemed shaken by the incident, and the scene was chaotic at first.

“People were leaving because they were upset and probably because they were freaked out,” said Nathan Moorman, a senior at the school, who was waiting with friends for the OK to enter the school for the day.

Students could be seen leaving the school crying, and most were talking on their cell phones. More than 100 parents immediately drove to school to pick up their children.

The rush to pick up the students resulted in a car crash in front of the school in which one person was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

One parent even took off her high-heeled shoes and sprinted to the door to pick up her child. Another was waiting in the parking lot in her pajamas.

Roseberry was even called to the scene to help direct traffic.

But, by 11 a.m., the street around the school was mostly empty. By 1:30 p.m., many of the students had already left school for the day, so district administrators released students an hour early.

Administrators also decided to cancel tonight’s previously scheduled open house at the high school. The school will resume regularly scheduled classes today.

“Additional counseling staff and local and area youth ministers have been made available and are present at GHS, and neighboring crisis intervention teams are available if necessary,” the district said in its statement.

Students arriving late to school Wednesday morning gathered together in groups in the school’s parking lot until they were allowed to enter the school.

“It’s terrible,” said Jonathan Tapp, a senior at the school. “The real thing it tells me is that a kid got into school with a gun.”

What type of gun was used in the shooting and how the gun was brought onto campus has not yet been released by school or police officials.

The case is still being investigated, and the student’s body was being transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Dallas for an autopsy, according to a statement released by the City of Greenville.

However, GISD Superintendent Lloyd Graham sought to reassure both students and the public that the campus is safe.

“We do not have metal detectors here,” Graham said. “I cannot tell you how the gun came into the school. If I knew how the gun came into the school, we could have prevented that.”

“I do know that working in conjunction with the Harris Department of Education for Safe and Secure Schools, that we have already began a complete school district audit for safety practices (which was commenced in January) but I don’t have the results of what that may be or what it may tell us,” he said.

During a press conference late in the morning, Graham told reporters that it was a “shooting at the school and not a school shooting.”

And at one point during the press conference Graham stepped away to regain his composure.

“The school is doing extremely well given the constructs of what we’re dealing with here,” he said. “Our staff has been tried and our students are being tested, but the body corporate as a whole at GHS is rising and ministering to everybody’s needs.”

Students interviewed immediately following the shooting were nervous about going into school and visibly shaken.

Senior Brian Taylor said he knew the student who died and had sometimes talked to him.

“It’s just horrible,” Taylor said, “It’s nerve-racking because a kid just killed himself in school.”

Parents were also shaken.

Rita Harmon, whose daughter is a cheerleader at the school, heard about the suicide shortly after it occurred from another parent, but details were initially fuzzy.

She said she was initially scared for her daughter’s safety until her daughter called a short time later to say she was OK.

“I’m just thankful it wasn’t a kid who went crazy (and shot a lot of other students),” she said.