Tacoma, Wash. ? A teenager was shot to death in a high school hallway Wednesday as classes resumed after the winter break, and police arrested a fellow student found wandering a neighborhood a few miles away, authorities said.

Witnesses said that the gunman fired three shots at point-blank range, splattering blood on lockers at Foss High School and setting off panic. He did not appear to be aiming at anyone other than the victim, witnesses said.

The victim “got shot – bang – and he just fell,” said sophomore Malcolm Clark. “He just froze and he fell backward into the lockers.”

The teenager suspected in the shooting was caught without incident about two hours later in a suburban area dotted with homes and shopping centers.

The Tacoma News Tribune identified the suspect as 18-year-old Douglas Chanthabouly.

Freshman Sam Sao, 14, said she was in the lunchroom, waiting for the bell to ring, when the shots were heard about 7:30 a.m.

“Everyone was yelling, ‘Get in the gym! Get in the gym!”‘ she said. “At first we thought it was a fight. Then the teachers started getting on the tables and screaming.”

The medical examiner’s office identified the victim as Samnang Kok.

The school was locked down after the shooting. Classes were canceled for the rest of the day and students sent home about an hour later.

The shooting was most likely the culmination of a dispute between two acquaintances, Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell said at a news conference.

“I know they were acquaintances,” Ramsdell said. “It does not appear to be a gang-related incident. It does not appear to be a random act of violence.”

Charles Milligan, superintendent of the Tacoma School District, said classes would be in session at Foss today and grief counselors would be on hand to help students and staff members traumatized by the shooting.