Gunman kills 1 student, hurts 3 others at school in Wash. state

ROCKFORD, Wash. — A student opened fire at a high school in a town in Washington state Wednesday, killing one classmate and wounding three others, authorities said.

Brian Schaeffer of the Spokane Fire Department said one student died at Freeman High School in Rockford, south of Spokane, while three others were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.

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

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said the shooter came to the school armed with two weapons, and one jammed when he tried to fire it.

The sheriff said a student approached the shooter and attempted to block him before he was shot and killed. Knezovich said the gunman then shot three additional students before a school staff member stopped him.

Knezovich said no officers fired their weapons and the gunman had been disabled by the time officers arrived.

A two-lane road into the community of about 500 people near the Idaho border was clogged with vehicles. Some people abandoned their cars on the street to make it to their children.

Cheryl Moser said her son, a freshman at Freeman High School, 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. “You never think about something happening like this at a small school.”

Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement Wednesday that “all Washingtonians are thinking of the victims and their families, and are grateful for the service of school staff and first responders working to keep our students safe.”