Classes were canceled Tuesday as investigators worked to determine what led to the attack at Hill Country College Preparatory High School.
BULVERDE, TX — A 15-year-old student shot a teacher at Hill Country College Preparatory High School on Monday morning and then fatally shot himself, authorities said, sending the small campus into lockdown and forcing families into a tense reunification process nearby.
The shooting quickly became a major law enforcement response in Comal County and left one of the school district’s smallest campuses at the center of a widening investigation. Sheriff Mark Reynolds said no other students or staff were physically hurt, but officials were still trying Monday evening to determine what led to the attack, whether the student knew the teacher well, and how he got the gun onto campus. By late afternoon, the teacher’s condition had not been publicly updated, and school leaders had canceled classes for Tuesday while arranging counseling for students, staff and families.
The first public timeline began just after the start of the school day. Comal Independent School District said Hill Country College Preparatory High School was placed on lockdown at 8:34 a.m. Monday. Less than an hour later, the district said students and staff were in a secure area and that the threat had been contained. Sheriff Reynolds later said the student shot the teacher before turning the gun on himself. Authorities identified the shooter only as a 15-year-old male student. Cary Zayas, a public information officer for Comal County, said the student died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The injured teacher was taken to a hospital in San Antonio. Reynolds said at a news conference that investigators were working to reconstruct the sequence inside the building and collect witness statements from students, staff and other people who were on campus when the gunfire began.
Students were then moved off campus and bused to Bulverde Middle School, where parents and guardians waited in long lines for reunification. Reynolds said the family of the student also went through that line as officials worked to account for everyone at the school. The sheriff said the scene was contained and there was no ongoing threat to students, but the high school remained locked down while investigators processed evidence. Reporters asked where on campus the shooting happened, whether the teacher had taught the student, whether warning signs had appeared beforehand and how the firearm was obtained. Reynolds said those questions were all part of the active investigation and did not offer immediate answers. The names of the student and teacher were not released Monday. Authorities also did not say whether the gun was brought from home, taken from someone else or legally owned by another person.
The school at the center of the shooting is a relatively new campus in the Comal district. Hill Country College Preparatory High School opened in August 2020 with a freshman class and has since expanded to serve grades nine through 12. District materials describe it as a STEAM-focused school, emphasizing science, technology, engineering, arts and math, with electives such as engineering and cybersecurity. Officials and news outlets gave slightly different enrollment counts Monday, but both district and county statements described it as a small campus, with roughly 200 to 250 students. That size shaped the response and the reaction. In a larger district, one campus emergency can feel spread out. Here, many families appeared to know one another, and the reunification site became a place where parents waited shoulder to shoulder, praying, checking phones and looking for familiar faces. The setting also underscored the shock in Bulverde, a fast-growing community north of San Antonio that is more often associated with new subdivisions and school growth than with campus violence.
Witness accounts added to the sense of confusion that marked the first minutes of the attack. One student told San Antonio television station KSAT that loud bangs came from a room on the second floor, followed by screaming. Another said she heard five shots and yelling before a debate teacher told students to get inside a classroom. Those accounts had not been fully verified by investigators Monday evening, but they helped explain how quickly the campus moved into emergency mode. Outside the school, first responders filled the area while local and state agencies joined the case. The City of Bulverde said its police department helped respond but noted that the school is near the city and not within its limits, leaving the Comal County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety to lead the investigation. Officials did not say Monday whether Texas Rangers had formally taken a role, but multiple agencies were visibly involved as the campus remained secured for hours.
By midafternoon, the focus had widened from the immediate crisis to the next official steps. Reynolds said investigators had spoken with the shooter’s parents and were trying to understand all the circumstances around the case. That includes the student’s relationship with the teacher, whether he was in her class, whether anyone had noticed behavior that might have pointed to a risk, and how the weapon got onto school grounds. School leaders also began setting a short-term recovery schedule. Principal Julie Wiley said classes at Hill Country College Preparatory would be canceled Tuesday. She said counselors would be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mammen Family Public Library in Bulverde for students and families who wanted support. Wiley also said students would not be able to return immediately for cars or other belongings left at the high school. No court filings, criminal charges against any other person or formal investigative timeline were announced Monday, and authorities did not say when they expected to release more details.
The emotional weight of the day was visible in the comments of parents, school leaders and law enforcement officials. “What happened today is something no community ever wants to face, but we prepare for something that we hope never occurs,” Reynolds said as he addressed reporters. At the reunification site, Jesse Lopez, a parent, said he was worried about what it would mean for his daughter to return to school after the shooting. He said she has autism and would be deeply afraid to go back. Wiley struck a similar tone in a statement to families, saying the school community had been through a difficult day and that the district’s heart was with the wounded teacher, the teacher’s family and everyone affected. The statements did not answer the biggest questions, but they captured where the community stood by evening: relieved that no one else had been shot, shaken by the violence inside a small school, and waiting for basic facts that had still not been made public.
As of Monday night, the teacher remained hospitalized, the student was dead and investigators had not publicly identified either person or explained a motive. The next major public milestone is expected to be another update from Comal County authorities as the case moves from emergency response to a fuller accounting of what happened.
Author note: Last updated March 30, 2026.