Seven people, including an 18- year-old gunman, were injured by gunshots Thursday in a shooting incident in a southern Californian high school, local TV station reports said.
The shooting happened at approximately 12:54 p.m. Pacific time at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, near San Diego, when a gunman with shaved head got out of a car to begin firing with a shotgun, witnesses were quoted by the local TV station KGTV as saying.
Six people, including one female teacher, reportedly suffered gunshot wounds. One of the victims -- a 15-year-old male -- was wounded in the upper chest by shotgun pellets and was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital for surgery.
Three other people were also sent into local hospitals for treatment of shock, shortness of breath or hyperventilating, including one 51-year-old father who complained about chest pains after running to the school to check on his kid.
Hospital sources said that none of the injuries were considered life threatening.
Two policemen were on duty on the campus at the time of shooting, and they immediately engaged in a shootout with the gunman, who was later wounded in the mouth and buttocks, police said.
The gunman was taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital for treatment, and his wounds are neither life threatening, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Chris Wesley, a junior at Granite Hills, told KGTV that he recognized the shooter as a former student who graduated from the school last year. The gunman fired at least eight shots and reloaded his weapon during the shooting, Wesley said.
There are about 2,800 people in the school. The school will be closed Friday pending the police investigation into the shooting.
The cause of the shooting, the second in San Diego in the past month, remained unknown. The Granite Hills High School is just nine miles away from the Santana High School, where two people were killed and 13 others wounded early the month in a shooting rampage by a male student.
(Xinhua 03/23/2001)
