Suspect held after two injured in school shooting as Texas considers safety measures

A SUSPECT is in custody and at least two people have been injured after an armed person targeted a school in Indianapolis, police said.

Noblesville Fire Department tweeted it was on an “active shooter” scene at Noblesville West Middle School.

It did not say whether anyone had been shot or provide any other details, but officials said two people were taken to hospital. TV helicopter footage showed students being led out of the school and on to buses.

Bryant Orem, a spokesman for Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, said the victims were taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Mr Orem said the suspect is believed to have acted alone and was in custody.

The latest shooting at a US school comes as Texas governor Greg Abbott ended three days of meetings on school safety and mass shootings by speaking with survivors from last week’s shooting at a high school near Houston.

The Republican organised the mostly closed-door meetings after eight students and two substitute teachers were fatally shot last week in Santa Fe High School. Mr Abbott said he wanted to find “swift and meaningful” ways to stop future shootings.

Most of the ideas centred on monitoring student mental health and security measures, such as “hardening” campuses with armed guards and teachers. Mr Abbott hasn’t said when or what he’ll recommend to address those issues, but said on Thursday “we are going to do more than just talk, we are going to act”.

Mr Abbott so far has ignored calls from state politicians from both parties to call the Legislature into special session to address gun laws, in sharp contrast to the response in Florida after a high school shooting in February killed 17 people. Three weeks after that massacre, Florida politicians, who were in session, passed a gun-control package after a lobbying campaign led by student survivors of the attack.

Politicians are not scheduled to meet until January in Texas, which embraces its gun-friendly reputation and has 1.2 million people licensed to carry handguns.

Unlike the students in Florida, several students at Santa Fe High School have been vocal opponents of increased gun control, including some of those who were invited to meet Mr Abbott on Thursday.

The only tweaks to gun safety Mr Abbott mentioned as possibilities this week were stronger laws on storage and reporting of lost or stolen weapons, and quicker reporting to law enforcement when a court order denies someone access to a gun.

Several families who met with him on Thursday said they did not want to talk about new gun restrictions or the politics of gun rights.

Mr Abbott has signed bills in recent years that cut the training needed for a handgun licence and expanded where handguns can be legally carried.

During a National Rifle Association (NRA) meeting earlier this month, Mr Abbott said violence is not caused by guns but by “hearts without God”.