According to The New York Times, a student was shot dead by a classmate yesterday at a Knoxville high school, police said.

The shooting took place Thursday shortly after 8 a.m. in the Central High School cafeteria, Deputy Chief Bill Roehl asserted. The victim, identified by the authorities as Ryan McDonald, was 15 years old.

The teenager was a softmore who lived with his grandmother and suffered from hair loss, which left him bald at the age of 3. Due to this, other children made fun of him.

“He tried to have a tough exterior, like a shield, to fit in,” his uncle Roger McDonald stated.

Several minutes after the incident occurred, the suspected school shooter, also 15, was taken into police custody. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder. The boy’s attorney, public defender Mark Stephens, didn’t want to talk about the case.

Late Thursday, Jamar Siler had an initial appearance in Juvenile Court. He was being held in a juvenile detention facility, without bond, according to police spokesman Darrell DeBusk.

“This wasn’t a shooting that was a random act,” Roehl stated. “It was an individual directing his aggression toward another individual, not the school or the students inside the school.”

Siler shot McDonald during a quarrel, while other youngsters watched the boy fall to the floor. The nature of the argue wasn’t disclosed.

During a press conference held late Thursday, Knox County School System Superintendent Jim McIntyre announced the high school will reopen the next day, more for counseling than for classes.