Teen North Dakota boy attempts suicide in class

A teen boy walked to the front of his study hall class in Fairmount, North Dakota, apologized, then shot himself in the side of his face with a handgun in front of his seven classmates and teacher, in an attempted suicide.  The teacher administered first aid, and the school went on lockdown.  None of the other 120 students in the little school were injured.

The boy is expected to recover.

From an article and news video:

"As far as I know, he's a well-behaved, good kid," the mayor said. "We're a rural area, but guns are not commonplace."

The shooting was "an isolated incident" for the town, Nelk said.

"I'm sure when we sit down this evening and start playing it back, we'll try to figure out what could have possibly happened and why this happened," Nelk said. "It's a very tight community.

"I've had a lot of conversations with parents and some students. They're quite worried and hoping that our prayers go out to the child and the family and the friends," the mayor said.

A teacher provided first-aid to the boy, and the school went into lockdown shortly after the 8:40 a.m. shooting, Townsend said.

An alert system called all parents, and school was canceled for the day, Townsend said.

School will resume Friday, when counselors will be on hand, the principal said.

The reports don't say how the boy got the gun.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.