Three people were killed on Tuesday when a student opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun at a high school in Oakland County, Mich., north of Detroit, according to the authorities, who said that they had taken a 15-year-old student into custody.
The dead were all believed to be students, Michael McCabe, the Oakland County undersheriff, said at a news conference.
The authorities received the first of more than a hundred 911 calls about the shooting at 12:51 p.m., Undersheriff McCabe said. He said the gunman was a sophomore at the school, “gave up without any problems” and was in custody within five minutes.
In addition to the three students who were killed, six others were injured, including a teacher, he said. The conditions of those who were injured were not immediately known.
The gunman, whose name was not immediately released, fired 15 to 20 shots with a semiautomatic handgun, the authorities said.
The gunman “invoked his right not to speak” and asked for a lawyer, Undersheriff McCabe said. The authorities said they did not believe he had planned the shooting with anyone else. They said they were still investigating whether it was a random shooting or a targeted one.
“It’s a very tragic situation,” Undersheriff McCabe said.
After evacuating the school, the authorities said that they were doing a second and third search of the school, checking for more victims.
Footage from local television news coverage showed a heavy police presence, including sheriff’s deputies and Michigan state troopers, outside the school, which is about 40 miles north of Detroit.
Sheriff’s deputies carrying long guns patrolled the school grounds and emergency medical workers arrived in two helicopters. Emergency medical workers brought a stretcher into the building as at least a half-dozen ambulances waited in the parking lot.
“This afternoon there was an active shooter at Oxford High School,” Oxford Community Schools said in a statement, according to WDIV-TV, a local station. “Oakland County Sheriff’s Department has secured the scene.”
Students and staff members were “systematically being evacuated” to a nearby Meijer store, where they could be picked up, the school district said.
Rosemary Bayer, a state senator who represents the district that includes Oakland County, said in a statement that “the news of today’s school shooting at Oxford High School is simply horrifying.”
Maria Cramer and Christine Chung contributed reporting.
