A high school student in California opened fire on his classmates at the beginning of classes on Thursday, killing two and injuring three students.
He later turned the 0.45 caliber semiautomatic handgun on himself and shot himself in the head. Authorities say the shooter had survived the wound to his head and was in a critical condition. The shooting came on his 16th birthday.
The California high school shooting occurred at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, 65km north of Los Angeles. Those shot fatally in incident were a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy. The injured included a two girls aged 14 and 15, and another 14-year old boy.
Thursday’s shooting at Saugus High School in California is the 11th gun violence incident of its kind this year on a high school or college campus. There have at least been six deaths combined.
The school becomes the newest site of tragedy, joining Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, Columbine High School in Colorado, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Florida.
The incident is again set to bring the debate about US gun control laws, or lack thereof, to the limelight. For years, activists have called on the federal and state governments to place a ban on military style assault rifles and limit the ease with which arms can be procured from across the country.
Everytown, an rights group that proposes stricter gun laws, claims Thursday shooting was at least the 85th incident of gunfire on school grounds this year.
In February last year, a former student carrying an assault rifle killed 17 people when he opened fire at students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The massacre jolted the country and was expected to bring radical changes in the country’s gun laws. However, nothing of the sort has happened. Guns are still as accessible as ever for US citizens and there appears to be no bar on buying them, one or by the dozen.
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