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Two dead in shooting at US high school

The gunman was shot dead by police officers who rushed to the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, St Louis police chief Mike Sack told reporters (file pic)
The gunman was shot dead by police officers who rushed to the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, St Louis police chief Mike Sack told reporters (file pic)

Two people have been shot dead and several injured by a gunman who opened fire at a high school in the midwestern US city of St Louis, police said.

The gunman was shot dead by police officers who rushed to the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School, St Louis police chief Mike Sack told reporters.

Mr Sack said the gunman appeared to be about 20 years old and has not been identified yet.

He said an adult woman and a teenage girl were killed by the gunman, who was armed with what he called a "long gun."

Mr Sack said police arrived at the school "within a couple of minutes" of receiving a report of an "active shooter."

"Officers began to clear the building looking for the shooter," the police chief said.

"Upon hearing gunfire, they ran to that gunfire, located the shooter, and engaged that shooter in an exchange of gunfire."

He said the gunman was shot and killed.

In May, a teenage gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

A 16-year-old boy pleaded guilty in Michigan today to shooting dead four classmates at his high school last year with a gun purchased as a gift by his father.