US: A 15-year-old student opened fire Tuesday at a high school in rural Michigan state, killing three young men before being taken into custody, local police said.
Six other people, including a teacher, were injured in the shooting, which took place shortly after noon in the town of Oxford, about 40 miles north of Detroit, according to a statement from the county sheriff’s office, AFP noted. The alleged perpetrator was arrested and a pistol confiscated, but no explanation was given as to the motive for the attack. Authorities said there was no resistance during the arrest and that the suspect requested a lawyer.
“It is a very tragic situation,” said Sheriff Michael McCabe. “We have three deceased victims at this time, who are believed to be students,” he said.
Police said they received more than 100 emergency calls to the 911 emergency number shortly after noon, and claimed that the attacker fired between 15 and 20 shots during about five minutes with a semi-automatic pistol, with more than one magazine of ammunition.
The suspect was taken into custody within five minutes of the first 911 call, according to authorities. “Unimaginable pain” President Joe Biden, visiting the nearby state of Minnesota, was briefed on the shooting.
“My heart goes out to the families who are enduring such unimaginable pain,” he said. “The whole community has to be in shock right now.”
Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin, who represents Detroit’s northern district in the US House of Representatives, said she was “horrified.”
“I have been speaking with Oxford leaders, parents and students and we are all praying for the health of the injured and the well-being of all our young people, many of whom are in shock,” he said in a statement.
The Oxford shooting is the deadliest school year so far, according to Everytown For Gun Safety, a group that compiles statistics on gun incidents and lobbies for gun control.
Before Tuesday, there were 138 shootings in schools in the United States in 2021, according to figures from Everytown. In those incidents, 26 led to deaths, although not more than two at a time.
The deadliest school shootings in U.S. history were the April 2007 attack on Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, in which 33 people, including the shooter, were killed, followed by the December 2012 attack on Sandy Elementary School. Hook in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 28 dead, including 20 children and the assailant.
In February 2018, a former student with an AR-15 assault rifle opened fire at his former high school in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people, in the deadliest high school shooting in nation history.
