US: 3 Killed, 7 injured in School Shooting

 At least three people, including the suspect, have died and seven others are injured after a shooting at a high school in St Louis, Missouri.

The gunman entered Central High School for the Visual and Performing Arts shortly after 09:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Monday.

The doors to the school building were closed and it was not immediately clear how the suspect entered.

Eyewitnesses say lives were saved after the gunman's weapon malfunctioned in the middle of the attack.

St. Louis Public Schools says police "quickly stopped" the gunman.

The suspect, identified by police as a 19-year-old former student, exchanged fire with police and later died of his injuries.

The motive for the attack on a school of about 400 students is unclear.

Police told local media that a teenage girl had been declared dead inside the school, while a woman had died in hospital.

The seven injured - three girls and four boys - all had non-life-threatening injuries, according to local media.

Students were running out of the school when officers arrived and said the attacker was carrying a "long rifle," according to city police commissioner Michael Sack.

He noted that seven security workers at the site moved quickly to notify other employees and contact the police.

Police mentioned that the gunman graduated last year from school and had no history of criminal behavior.

Those injured are said to be suffering from gunshot wounds, shrapnel injuries, and cardiac arrest.

"Our children shouldn't have to experience this," St Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said at a news conference after the shooting.

"They shouldn't have to go through active shooter drills in case something happens. And unfortunately, that happened today."

Data from the Education Week outlet shows there have been at least 35 school shootings, in which at least one person has been killed or injured, so far this year.

Earlier on Monday, a Michigan teenager pleaded guilty to 24 counts, including terrorism and first-degree murder, after a riot at his high school last November.