ROSWELL, N.M. – Two teenagers were critically injured when a fellow student opened fire in a Roswell middle school gymnasium Tuesday morning.

Berrendo Middle School in Roswell, N.M. was placed on lockdown around 8 a.m. yesterday when a student took a shotgun out of his band instrument case and began shooting.

Approximately 600 people were in the gym, congregating before classes were to start.

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The shooter, believed to be a male student at the school, was taken into custody after firing several shots. A school staffer and an off-duty New Mexico State Police lieutenant who was dropping his child off at the school were said to be instrumental in helping to end the active shooter situation.

They acted courageously to stop the shooter, but not before four people were injured, including two critically, reports FoxNews.

Although the motives remain unclear, a student who witnessed the event says the shooter was a boy who may have been a victim of bullying.

Witnesses say that one of the critically injured students, a 12-year-old boy who was shot twice in the face, was the shooter’s target. A 13-year-old girl was also shot in the arm and remains in serious care.

Eighth-grader Odiee Carranza reported that the shooting happened in the school gym and that the boy fired several shots, including one into the sky, before dropping the gun and being grabbed by a teacher, the story reports.

The two students in critical condition were brought to the Eastern New Mexico Medical Center before being airlifted to the University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas.

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The brave actions of the teacher, off-duty state trooper, and a school security guard potentially saved the lives of numerous students and staff members.

New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas said by the time his deputies arrived around 8: 11 a.m., “the weapon, which we believe is a shot gun, was laid on the ground.”

The havoc wreaked by the shooter could have been substantially worse if it wasn’t for the quick response of those who approached the shooter and attended to the injured.