One person was killed and least four others injured in a shooting at a high school north of Los Angeles Thursday, triggering a police hunt for a student who was found wounded and taken into custody.
Police and ambulances swarmed the area around Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, after the early morning shooting sent panicked children running from the area.
"We do have the suspect in custody. He is currently being treated at a local hospital. He is a student, a 15-year-old male Asian," said Los Angeles Country Sheriff Alex Villanueva.
The suspect was being treated for injuries that appeared to be self-inflicted, he told a local CBS affiliate. "No a deputy was not responsible... it appears to be the student himself."
Villanueva said a total of six people had been taken to hospital to be treated for injuries. No details were provided on whether the victims were students or staff.
Officials at the nearby Henry Mayo Hospital in Valencia said one female victim had died as a result of her injuries, while two more were in critical condition there.
The shooting at the school of 2,400 students was first reported at around 7:30 a.m. (1530 GMT), followed by an "avalanche of 911 calls," Villanueva said. The school was locked down, and eyewitness descriptions and surveillance footage within an hour of the shooting identified the suspect. "All those that were injured (were) evacuated to local hospitals," said Villanueva. "And one of the first that was evacuated to local hospitals was what it turns out to be the suspect."
Officers later went to his residence. The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's department had earlier tweeted that it believed there was only one suspect involved.
A White House spokesman said President Donald Trump is "monitoring the ongoing reports."
A tearful mother waiting beside a nearby church with other parents said she had dropped off her ninth-grader about a minute before the shooting started.
"I haven't seen my son yet but I've talked to him. He's okay ... He just sounded numb," she said.
"All he's said is he was walking through the quad and somebody started shooting and he turned and he saw that it was real and ran into a classroom," she added.
Students told CNN they had heard multiple loud bangs that "sounded like fireworks" and began to run.
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