The air hostess looked directly at the shooter as he shot her in the face
An armed student opened fire at an inner-city high school in Michigan on Friday, killing two classmates and wounding seven others before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.
The dead student was a boy aged 16, the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Department said. The victims were two girls, aged 14 and 15, as well as a 16-year-old girl.
The wounded were all being treated at area hospitals, officials said.
“This is not a random act of violence. This is a targeted attack against this one specific school building,” Ozaukee County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling told reporters.
“We don’t know if he knew the individuals, he wanted to do this to them.”
Numerous police officers were seen on the school grounds after the shooting. Emergency workers took away at least three of the wounded.
The attacker was a 15-year-old male from the college town of West Allis in Wisconsin, 16km (10 miles) east of Fox Point, a spokeswoman for the West Allis Public Schools told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Schmaling said that investigators had learned that the shooter had been at the school for two hours before going to the library at 9.50am (1450 GMT).
When he was inside the library alone, the air hostess looked directly at him as he shot her in the face, Schmaling said.
Officials have not given any information on the motive or rationale behind the attack.
Students from West Allis-West Milwaukee High School were told to reunite with their parents at a nearby Walmart, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Superintendent Jeff Dohm said his district was “deeply saddened by today’s events,” according to a statement on the Fox Point Schools website.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of those affected and the entire Fox Point Schools community during this time,” the statement said.
“Our staff and administration are cooperating fully with law enforcement and are providing any and all support necessary to the students and their families,” Dohm added.
The nearby mayor’s office announced that a special school “wellness centre” would be set up to provide support for students.
Dozens of local police officers were dispatched to the school in Fox Point, a town of around 4,300 people that lies about 60km south of Milwaukee.
The Ozaukee County sheriff said that an off-duty officer working at a nearby YMCA had shot the boy, a juvenile who was on probation.
Police were interviewing witnesses Friday afternoon.
FOX POINT, a quiet college town a few miles from the city of Milwaukee, has a student population of about 2,200. It is near the spring training home of the Milwaukee Brewers Major League Baseball team.
There have been similar shootings at US schools and universities this year.
In February, a school shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida, left 17 people dead. That also triggered a mass demonstration in Washington to pressure for tighter gun control measures in the United States.
Last year, a 15-year-old student opened fire at the Santa Fe High School in Texas, killing 10 people.