Female Students Killed in Shooting at Independence High School in ArizonaThe New York times 

Two female students were fatally shot at Independence High School in Glendale, Ariz., early Friday, the authorities said.

The bodies of the students, both 15, were found near an administration building at the high school, the police said. They were declared dead at the scene.

“It’s a tragic incident,” said Officer Tracey J. Breeden, a spokeswoman for the Glendale Police Department, who suggested that the killings did not occur at the hands of a third person.

“We don’t believe there are any outstanding suspects,” she said. “These two young women were found next to each other. There was a weapon found beside them.”

The relationship between the two girls was not immediately available.

Lanie Walter, a senior at the school, said the shootings were heartbreaking because “everyone is so loving” there, according to The Associated Press.

School and police officials sought early on to reassure the community that the shooting was isolated. “The school and neighborhood are safe,” the department said in a Twitter post.

The shootings, nevertheless, shook the community in Glendale, a city of about 200,000 people just northwest of Phoenix, as worried parents scrambled to find their children and make sure they were safe.

School officials asked parents to avoid the campus and to pick up their children at a nearby Walmart. “Parents will be notified by email when students are released,” the district said in a Facebook post.