Texas: At least 10 dead, several injured at Santa Fe High School shooting
At least ten people have been reportedly killed during a shooting in Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday morning. This is the third school shooting in the past seven days and the 22nd so far in the United States since the beginning of the year.
Explosive devices were also found on and off the high school campus, the police said.
"Possible explosive devices have been located at the school and off campus," the Santa Fe school district tweeted.
"Law enforcement is in the process of rendering them safe. School has been evacuated."
Local officials warned residents to be aware and report any suspicious items after the explosive devices were found not just at the school but in areas "adjacent to the school."
Assistant principal, Chris Richardson, while talking to the reporters, said that the suspect in the Texas school shooting has been arrested.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on Twitter said that a second person has also been detained in connection with the shooting.
Witnesses of the shooting said that they saw students running out of the school early on Friday and they heard gunshots. They also talked about an alarm going off in the school, however, it was not immediately clear who rung the alarm.
Shortly after some students ran out of the school, they were made to empty their backpacks outside the premises, according to reports.
A witness reportedly told CNN affiliate KTRK that an armed person had walked into an art class at the school and began firing with what appeared like a shotgun.
Reports state that the witness also saw a girl being shot in the leg during the gunfire.
All of the wounded have been taken to a hospital in the city of Galveston, hospital spokesperson Raul Reyes said. The official, however, did not reveal any details about casualties of the injuries inflicted on the wounded.
Sheriff Gonzales, however, said that at least one police officer was injured during the shooting.
Aerial video of the school showed multiple police officers gathered outside the school, while some were spotted searching students and their backpacks.
A 14-year-old student, Angelica Martinez, while talking to CNN said that she and her schoolmates were being evacuated from the school at one point and it seemed "like it's a fire drill."
"We were all standing (outside), but not even five minutes later, we started hearing gunshots. And then everybody starts running, but like the teachers are telling us to stay put, but we're all just running away," the teenager continued.
"I didn't see anybody shooting, but like (the gunshots) were kind of spaced," Martinez added. She said that she had heard about a total of four shots being fired.
A somber President Donald Trump, who was speaking at an event on prison reform at the White House, expressed "sadness and heartbreak" over the deadly shooting spree.
The Texas shooting is the biggest school shooting this year after the Parkland massacre, where a 19-year-old former student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school, Nikolas Cruz, opened fire in the campus with his legally-bought AR-15 rifle, killing 17. Most of the victims of the massacre were students and teachers.