US Gun Violence: One teen killed, two injured in shooting outside Iowa school

A teenage boy has been killed and two others critically injured after a shooting incident outside a high school in Des Moines, the capital of the US state of Iowa.

A 15-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries, reports cited police as saying. Two young women, aged 16 and 18 respectively, were admitted to a local hospital in critical condition.

According to Des Moines police spokesperson, Paul Parizek, the incident occurred outside of the East High School building, but on school grounds.

He said the victim was not a student at the school but the two critically injured teens were the students.

Officials said they believe the gunfire came from a passing vehicle and added that shell casings were recovered from the scene.

U.S.'s 12th school shooting in 9wks. A teenager did it, but adults are responsible. Why? Because reasonable measures can be taken to curb this and other violence by gunfire, yet we fail because we think civic-minded politicians wouldn't be lackeys to the NRA. Vote them out.

— Admiral Mike Franken (@FrankenforIowa) March 8, 2022

“Our entire community is in mourning right now," Des Moines superintendent Thomas Ahart said Monday evening. "We do not have young lives to spare in Des Moines.”

Des Moines police chief Dana Wingert described it as a “dark day for the city of Des Moines”.

“Another tragic loss of life. Every one of them is tragic. Every one of them is pointless,” Wingert said, addressing an evening news conference.

“Nobody expected it," said East High sophomore Jadi Makwag, adding that he initially thought it was a joke because they had a fire drill earlier on Monday.

The victims' identities have not been released by officials.

Police said potential suspects have been detained and investigations are underway, but no charges have been filed at this stage.

Shooting at Michigan high school leaves three students dead, 8 injured; boy, 15, in custody

A 15-year-old boy allegedly opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun at a high school in rural Michigan on Tuesday, killing three students and injuring eight others including one teacher.

"Witnesses are being interviewed, the evidence examined, investigative leads followed, and multiple search warrants are being executed," police said in a news release.

The Des Moines incident is the 13th shooting at an American school campus in 2022, according to a CNN tally.

It is also the fourth homicide in Des Moines, the capital and the most populous city in Iowa.

Gun violence in the United States has become a chronic social problem that seems to have no solution.

According to the latest data by the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), more than 400 Americans were killed in gun violence only in the first four days of 2022.

The GVA said over 43,000 gun deaths were reported last year in different cities of the United States, accounting for the highest number of shooting in at least two decades.

Children, teens, and youth under the age of 18 are mostly involved in gun violence-related incidents in the US, according to the GVA data.

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