At least three people, including the suspect, have been killed and seven injured after a shooting at a high school in St. Louis, Missouri.
The gunman entered the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School shortly after 09:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Monday.
The doors to the school building were locked and it was not immediately clear how the suspect got inside.
Eyewitnesses say lives were saved after the gunman’s weapon was intercepted.
St. Louis Public Schools says police “quickly contained” the gunman.
Police identified the suspect as a 19-year-old former student, who exchanged gunfire with police and later succumbed to his injuries.
His motive for the attack on the school of about 400 students is unclear.
A teenage girl was pronounced dead inside the school, while a woman died in hospital, police told local media.
According to local media, the seven injured – three girls and four boys – all suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
When officers arrived, students were running out of the school and said the attacker had a “long gun,” according to city Police Commissioner Michael Sack.
He said the seven security personnel on site took immediate action to inform other staff and contact the police.
Mr. Sock later said the gunman had hundreds of bullets stacked in about a dozen high-capacity magazines.
“This is a heartbreaking day for all of us,” he added. FBI agents are assisting in the investigation.
A student told local news station KMOV that the attacker approached a friend and asked: “You ready to die?”
Raven Terry said: “We were just running real, real fast … and we were just crying, all shaken up about it.”
Tanya Gulston, 16, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that the gunman entered her classroom and tried to shoot her.
“I was trying to run and I couldn’t run,” she said. “He and I made eye contact but I broke it off because his gun jammed.”
She said she heard the attacker say: “I’m tired of this damn school.”
Police said the gunman had graduated from the school last year and had no history of criminal behavior.
One of the victims was identified by the family as health teacher Jane Kuzka.
According to an online biography, Kazka, 61, had taught at the school since 2008, and was a grandmother of seven.
“My mom loved kids,” her daughter Abigail Kuzka told the Post-Dispatch, adding that she died protecting her students.
The injured are reported to have suffered gunshot wounds, shrapnel injuries and cardiac arrest.
“Our kids shouldn’t have to experience this,” St. Louis Mayor Tishora Jones said at a news conference after the shooting.
“They shouldn’t have to go through active shooter drills in case something happens. And unfortunately, that happened today.”
At least 35 school shootings have occurred so far this year, with at least one person killed or injured, according to data from the Education Week outlet.
Earlier Monday, a Michigan teenager pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including terrorism and first-degree murder, after a rampage at his high school last November.
