GUNMAN TERROR AT HIGH SCHOOL
Many children feared dead and 50 injured by ‘ex-pupil’
MANY children were feared dead after a crazed gunman opened fire at a US high school last night.
Up to 50 were injured in the Florida shootings – and police swept the building for a bomb after detectives found the suspect had discussed explosives in an online forum.
The suspect, thought to be a former pupil, was arrested and taken to hospital after picking off victims – sending students running for cover to barricade themselves in classrooms.
The gunman had escaped, slipping away as panicked parents swarmed around Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, north of Miami.
Terrified pupils were led out of the building by SWAT teams in gas masks – and police ordered them to keep their hands up, in case one was the gunman.
One victim was confirmed dead early on, but Florida Senator Bill Nelson had reportedly said he believed many were killed. And at least 14 were in hospital with suspected gunshot wounds.
Pupil Laura Hill said many children were laughing, thinking the emergency evacuation was a drill after an earlier routine practice run that day.
She said: “It soon became clear it wasn’t a drill, kids froze and some kids were on Snapchat, everything, because they thought it was a joke.
“It soon became clear that it wasn’t and we heard shots – we just ran.”
One dad said his daughter had phoned to say she was hiding in a closet.
Another pupil said teachers began acting “frantically,” before a police officer appeared “with a big weapon and bulletproof vest”. He said pupils started running and that he escaped after he “jumped a fence and ran to Walmart”.
Local police said that between 20 and 50 people were feared injured.
Last night’s attack was the 18th school shooting so far in 2018, according to gun law campaigners.
President Trump took to Twitter to offer his condolences and the White House cancelled its daily press briefing.
He tweeted: “My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.”
The shooting started at 2.30pm with police arriving 43 minutes later, although an local police officer was on campus.
A schools official said he believed the attacker was possibly a former student.