Six injured after gunmen open fire at school in Oakland, California
Three in critical condition
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At least six people were injured in a shooting at an Oakland, California, high school campus on Wednesday, according to police.
Witnesses told police a car stopped outside of the shared grounds of Rusdale Newcomer High School and Bay Area Technology School around 12.45pm, and three gunmen got out and started shooting before fleeing.
The school is now clear from threats, according to Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf.
The six victims are all 18-plus, though it’s unclear whether any of the injured are students, the mayor said.
“Our schools are sanctuaries for our children,” Ms Schaaf said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday.
“The unbridled access to firearms in our country is inexcusable,” she added.
Five people have been taken to local hospitals for treatment, including three people whose injuries are critical.
A 13-year-old student called her father as she hid underneath her desk and gunshots could be heard in the background.
"I didn’t have too much information but I just rushed over," the father told KTVU. "I was about to rush the police. I was first in line, and they wouldn’t let me through. I asked them, ‘What if it was your daughter?’"
Police were reuniting parents and their children at a church across the street from the campus.
One student inside the school reported hearing about seven shots to police.
“It was like pop-pop-pop,” he can be heard saying on cellphone video obtained by KTVU.
Oakland Police Department captain Casey Johnson said at a press briefing on the scene officials are asking members of the public with video relevant to the shooting to share their information with police.
The San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting police with the investigation.
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is also on the scene.
The latest incident is the second school shooting in a month in Oakland, after a 13-year-old was injured when a student brought a gun to school and accidentally set it off, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Officials were expected to address the public on Wednesday evening with more details.
Police have not released any details on potential suspects or motives involved in the shooting.