2 injured, suspected shooter dead at US high school

Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON: Two students were injured Tuesday after a gunman opened fire with a handgun at Great Mills High School in eastern Maryland.

A male victim is in stable condition and a female victim is critical, Saint Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron told reporters. The victims have been transported to separate hospitals, he said. No other information was immediately available.

Police confirmed the suspected male shooter died at a local hospital. The suspect, who police said was a student, was shot after being confronted by a police officer stationed at the school. The suspect and the officer each fired one round, Cameron said, emphasizing it is not clear which round struck the suspect. The officer was not injured, and an investigation is underway, he said.

“This is what we pray we never have to do,” Cameraon said. “On this day we realized our worst nightmare, that our greatest asset, our children, were attacked in one of our bastions of safety and security, one of our schools.

“The notion of it can’t happen here is no longer a notion,” he added. The shooting comes a little more than a month after a mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 victims. A massive anti-gun rally organized by survivors of the Florida shooting in planned for Saturday in Washington. (AA)