1 killed, 3 injured in school shooting near Spokane

ROCKFORD, Wash. — A shooter opened fire at a high school in a tiny town in Washington state Wednesday, killing one student, injuring three others and sending worried parents to the school in a frenzied rush, authorities said.

Brian Schaeffer of the Spokane Fire Department told reporters one child died at Freeman High School in Rockford, south of Spokane, while three injured victims were taken to a hospital and were expected to survive.

“The shooter has been apprehended and is taken into custody,” he said.

Michael Harper, 15, a sophomore at the school, told The Associated Press the suspect was a classmate who had long been obsessed with past school shootings.

Harper said the suspect brought notes to school at the beginning of the year, saying he might get killed or jailed and that some students alerted counsellors.

The shooter came into the school Wednesday carrying a duffel bag, Harper said. After shots were fired, students went running and screaming down the hallways, the teen said.

Harper said the shooter had many friends and wasn’t bullied, calling him “nice and funny and weird.”

Schaeffer didn’t release any information about a possible motive or the age of the suspect.

Cheryl Moser said her son called her from a classroom after hearing shots fired.

"He called me and said, ‘Mom, there are gunshots.' He sounded so scared. I’ve never heard him like that,” Moser told The Spokesman-Review newspaper.