Three teens, including suspect, critically injured in US high school shooting

Washington, Sep 11 (IANS) Three teenagers, including the suspected shooter, were critically injured on Wednesday in a shooting at Evergreen High School, located in the foothills of suburban Denver, authorities said.

The incident was reported around 12:30 p.m. on school grounds, about 30 miles west of Denver, according to Jefferson County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jacki Kelley.

It remains unclear what caused the shooting or how the suspected shooter, believed to be a student at the school, was hit, according to local media reports.

Kelley confirmed that none of the law enforcement officers who responded fired their weapons.

While the shooting occurred on school property, officials have not yet determined whether it took place inside the school building. Kelley added that investigators do not believe there is any ongoing threat to the community.

The local media reports also suggest that all three injured were transported to St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, Colorado, after sustaining gunshot wounds, hospital CEO Kevin Cullinan said. Evergreen High School, which has more than 900 students, is situated about a mile from the town centre of Evergreen, a community of roughly 9,300 residents, and is surrounded largely by forested areas.

Over 100 police officers from across the Denver metropolitan area rushed to the scene to provide assistance. The shooting once again brought back memories of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Jefferson County, where 14 people were killed, including a woman who succumbed to complications from her injuries earlier this year.

Parents of Evergreen High School students were directed to an elementary school nearby to reunite with their children.

"This is the scariest thing you could ever think that could happen, and these parents were really frightened, and so were the kids," Kelley said.

This comes against the backdrop of a shooting that killed US President Donald Trump's aide, Charlie Kirk, who was killed during an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday (US time).

This also follows days after the tragic shooting that killed two children and injured 21 others during a Catholic Mass filled with young students in south Minneapolis last month.

--IANS

int/sd/