Eight injured in shooting at U.S. charter school

Eight students were injured in a shooting Tuesday afternoon at a charter school near Denver, capital of U.S. western state of Colorado, local police said.

Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said at a brief press conference that eight students, aged 15 or older, were wounded and many of them were in critical condition.

Police and others are seen outside a recreation center where students are reunited with their parents, in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch, Colo., after a shooting at STEM School Highlands Ranch Tuesday, May 7, 2019. [Photo: AP]

The reports of shots fired came at about 2 p.m., Spurlock said. Two male suspects, a juvenile and an adult, who were believed to be students at the school, were arrested after they had been confronted by policemen arriving to the scene in time.

"No staff or officers injured. Working with DA to get search warrants for suspect car at school and suspects' homes," Douglas County Sheriff's Office tweeted later.

Spurlock disclosed that the two suspects entered the school just before 2 p.m. and "got deep inside the school and engaged students in two separate locations."

He said investigators had recovered a handgun, but had no clue on the suspects' initiations and particular target.

The school has been cleared and investigators are no longer looking for additional suspects, Spurlock said.

Douglas County Undersheriff Holly Nicholson-Kluth said at the briefing conference that the victims all had gunshot wounds and were taken to three local hospitals.

She briefed to reporters earlier that the officers heard gunfire as they arrived. As they entered the building, quite a few shots were fired.

Wendy Forbes, spokeswoman for Littleton Adventist Hospital, told reporters that five patients were transported to the hospital, four of them were in serious condition and one was in fair condition.

The incident occurred at STEM School Highlands Ranch, located about 32 km south from Denver's downtown. There are about 1,850 students in the K-12 charter school.