Shooting at Taft High School in California injures one

A pupil at a high school in the Californian town of Taft has been shot and wounded, police say.

 

The suspected gunman, also a student, was taken into custody, said Ray Pruitt, spokesman for the Kern County Sheriff's Department.

The victim was taken to hospital in an air ambulance, he said.

Early reports suggested that a second person had been wounded, but Mr Pruitt told CNN that this appeared not to be true.

Kern County Fire Department Eric Coughran told KBAK-TV that a second person had received some sort of injury but had refused treatment.

A city official said the incident at Taft Union High School, about 120 miles (190km) north of Los Angeles, occurred shortly after 09:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

Mr Pruitt said the gunman had used a shotgun in the attack in the small town outside Bakersfield, in California's central valley.

 

 

Deputies from the local sheriff''s office and officials conducted a search of the school and its grounds to make sure no-one else was involved and all other students are safe.

The shooting comes four weeks after a gunman killed 26 pupils and staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

That incident has provoked a nationwide debate about gun laws in the US.

Vice-President Joe Biden has said his task force on gun control will make its recommendations to President Barack Obama as early as Tuesday.

Former pupils of Taft Union High School include the distinguished US Air Force pilot, General Gordon Graham, the American football player Russell Letlow and the television actress Jeanne Cooper.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20975608