Student gunman among two dead in US school shooting

Students describe how gunman stared at his victims as he stood up and opened fire in high school cafetaria.

MARYSVILLE, UNITED STATES // A student opened fire in a high school cafeteria north of Seattle on Friday, killing at least one person and shooting several others in the head, officials said. The gunman also died in the attack.

Marysville Police Commander Robb Lamoureux said the shooter was a student at Marysville Pilchuck High School, but he could not provide more information including what prompted the shooting, who the gunman was and who he shot.

Mr Lamoureux said he did not know if the shooter died of a self-inflicted wound.

Four other young people were brought to Providence Everett medical centre, said chief medical officer Joanne Roberts. Three had head wounds and were in “critical” condition, while one considered stable enough to transport was taken to another medical centre in Seattle.

Students who were in the cafeteria at the time said the gunman stared at the students as he shot them. They described a chaotic scene at the school, located about 45 kilometres north of Seattle, as students started running away from the cafeteria and building after the shots were fired.

Student Alan Perez told KING-TV he was eating his lunch at a nearby table when he heard the gunshots.

“He had a little gun in his hand. I saw the flash from the muzzle,” he said.

Another student, Austin Taylor, told the station the shooter “was just staring down every one of his victims as he shot them”.

Cedar Parker, a 17-year-old senior, said he was driving away from the campus for lunch when he saw students running from the school and trying to jump a fence. He let several of them in his car. He heard other students yelling for their friends: “Where are you?”

Mr Parker would have been nearby if he had chosen to eat in the cafeteria, he said: “Leaving saved my life.”

A crowd of parents waited in the car park outside a nearby church where they were reunited with their children. Buses pulled up periodically to drop off students evacuated from the school, with some running to hug their mothers or fathers. Some parents were sent back to their cars to get their identifications before they could leave with their children.

Ayn Dietrich, an FBI spokeswoman in Seattle, said the agency had personnel on their way to the scene to help authorities with the investigation.

The latest school shooting in the region happened at Seattle Pacific University, where a gunman killed one student and wounded two others on June 5.

* Associated Press