3 teens killed in Michigan school shooting

A 15-year-old sophomore opened fire with a semi-automatic handgun at his Michigan high school on Tuesday afternoon, killing three students and wounding eight others, including a teacher, authorities said.

Police said the three victims shot dead were a 16-year-old male student and two female students aged 14 and 17. Two of the injured were in surgery on Tuesday evening, and the other six were in stable condition at hospitals.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office said the incident at Oxford High School, roughly 48 kilometers north of Detroit, unfolded in about five minutes.

Oakland County Undersheriff Michael McCabe said deputies confronted the shooter and "he had the weapon on him, they took him into custody". He said the suspect was not injured and refused to say how he got the gun into school, attended by about 1,800 students.

McCabe said the suspect has asked for a lawyer and has not made any statements as to a motive.

About 15 to 20 shots were fired by the suspect, and he appears to have acted alone. Investigators would be looking through social media posts for any possible motive.

The Detroit Free Press reported that it was unclear if the suspect targeted anyone, but "some said he was bullied".

McCabe said he was unaware of any warning signs of a potential shooting at the school, but some parents and students said they had heard rumors before Tuesday that there would be an incident.

For now, the suspect, whose name was withheld by authorities because he is a minor, was being detained in a special cell under suicide watch at a juvenile detention center, Oakland County Executive David Coulter said.

Responsible actions urged

Commenting on the shooting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday that several Chinese citizens have been killed in shootings in the United States this year. He called on the US to take responsible actions and protect the lives and human rights of all the people in the US, including Chinese citizens.

Pointing out the US tops all countries in terms of the rate of gun-related crimes, Wang said the number of people killed by gun violence keeps increasing there, and that gun violence has become one of the US' most serious human rights problems.

Earlier, the Oxford school published a note to parents saying that it was aware of "numerous rumors" that had "circulated throughout our building this week", and the school was reviewing the concerns, reported the Detroit Free Press.

Robin Redding, parent of a 12th grader, told The Associated Press that there had been rumblings of trouble at the school. "He was not in school today," she said of her son Treshan Bryant. "He just said that, 'Ma, I don't feel comfortable. None of the kids that we go to school with are going today'."

Tim Throne, superintendent of Oxford Community Schools, declined to say at a news briefing why the school does not have metal detectors and said he could not recall the topic coming up.

Shootings involving children and teenagers have been on the rise.

There were 991 gun violence deaths among people aged 17 or younger in 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive website, which tracks shootings from more than 7,500 law enforcement, media, government and commercial sources. That number rose to 1,375 last year. Michigan reported 20 mass shootings that killed 19 and injured 72 last year.

Wang Qingyun in Beijing and agencies contributed to this story.