Girl Sad Over Ex-Boyfriend’s Suicide Try : Shooting: Student who dated victim says youth was despondent, threatened to ‘leave’ but didn’t elaborate.

A 15-year-old girl whose boyfriend, distraught over their breakup less than an hour before, tried to shoot himself to death in a crowded high school classroom, said Thursday that she feels “angry” and “sad” over the incident.

“I’m surprised he finally did it,” the soft-spoken girl said. “I ran out of the room. I didn’t want to look at him on the ground because I’d remember him that way forever.”

The boy, a 16-year-old junior at Aliso Niguel High School, is recovering from a bullet wound from a .45-caliber pistol. He put the gun under his chin at 12:44 p.m. Monday and fired a single shot in front of the girl and 26 other classmates in a fifth-period photography class.

Sheriff’s Department officials said the boy had gone home during lunch and returned with the weapon. Sources close to the boy’s family say he obtained the gun from a chest that his father kept under lock and key.

The bullet went through his mouth and out the base of his nose, and despite needing extensive reconstructive surgery, he is expected to fully recover, hospital officials said.

He was listed in fair condition Thursday night at Children’s Hospital at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center. He did not suffer neurological damage.

The girl, a sophomore at Aliso Niguel high, said the boy hadn’t explicitly threatened to commit suicide over breaking up after dating for nine months.

However, she said he’d get depressed almost every day and would often tell her “ ‘he’d leave,’ ” but didn’t elaborate.

“I didn’t think he was serious,” said the girl, who saw the boy shoot himself just before she left the classroom.

With her mother standing by her side Thursday, the girl spoke briefly from the front door of her family’s large, two-story house before excusing herself to do homework. She said the boy telephoned her from his hospital bed on Wednesday, but she was in the middle of a counseling session in connection with the suicide attempt and couldn’t take the call.

“I’m all right,” the girl said, describing her feelings as “angry, sad.”

Friends have sent her cards and flowers.

The girl’s mother said her daughter returned to classes on Wednesday after school officials had asked her to stay home Tuesday after the traumatic event.

The mother said the family felt bad for the boy’s parents, who have not spoken publicly about the suicide attempt.

“I think they were doing the best they could,” the girl’s mother said.

The mother also said that Thursday seemed to be a turning point as family members continue to cope with their emotions.

“Today it seems more normal,” the mother said. “It’s just hard. I think she’s going to be OK.”

Experts say that a public suicide attempt is unusual. In the wake of the shooting at Aliso Niguel, a team of counselors was brought to campus to help students deal with the shooting.