By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services
A New Hampshire elementary school was placed under lockdown Friday?after a 14-year-old student shot himself in the face in the cafeteria with about 70 students present, NBC station WPTZ reported.
Cheshire County Attorney Peter Heed said Friday the gunshot was self-inflicted. The shooting happened around 11 a.m. at Walpole Elementary School in Walpole. The boy was hospitalized, but his name and condition were not released. No one else was hurt, according to WPTZ.
“Our hearts go out to the family of this young man and our thoughts go out to all of the students that were in the school at this time,” Heed said at a news conference. He did not say what kind of gun the student used or where he might have obtained it. He also did not offer any information on why the student shot himself.
As of Friday afternoon, the student was in serious condition in the intensive care unit.
Ethan Symonds, a seventh-grader who was sitting at a table near the boy in the cafeteria, said he heard something “a little bit louder than a chip bag popping.” He said he did a double-take, saw blood, and ran.
Eighth-grader Nick Phillips, who shares homeroom with the student, told WPTZ the boy had been passing notes during the week saying he was depressed. Phillips told the station he didn’t know why.
Police allowed parents to retrieve their children.
“The state of New Hampshire is offering whatever assistance it can to the community, along with all of our thoughts and prayers,” Gov. John Lynch said in a statement.
About 170 students in fifth through eighth grades attend the school.
Walpole is in southwest New Hampshire, a few miles from the Vermont state line and about 15 miles northwest of Keene.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News