A teacher and teenage girl were killed in a school shooting in Missouri, USA

Image source: Reuters

A gunman opened fire at a high school in St. Louis, Missouri, killing a teacher and a teenage girl and wounding seven other people.

The gunman entered Central High School for Visual and Performing Arts just after 09:00 local time (13:00 GMT) yesterday.

The school building doors were closed.

It was not immediately clear how the suspect, who was later killed by police, entered the school.

Eyewitnesses say lives were saved after the suspect's weapon malfunctioned during the attack.

The St. Louis Public Schools Authority said police "quickly stopped" the gunman.

The suspect, who authorities said was a 19-year-old former student, exchanged fire with police before dying of his injuries.

The suspect's motives or his connection to the school, which has about 400 students, has yet to be determined.

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

And local media reported that the injuries of the seven injured - three girls and four boys - did not pose a threat to their lives.

City Police Commissioner Michael Sack said the students were leaving the school jogging when officers arrived, and that they said the attacker was carrying a "long rifle".

Sack added that seven school security personnel acted quickly by notifying the other staff and calling the police.

Later, Sack said the suspect was in possession of hundreds of bullets, adding that the incident "could have been much worse".

"This is a heartbreaking day for all of us," he said.

FBI agents are assisting in the investigation.

A student named Raven Terry told a local news station that the attacker approached a friend and asked her: "Are you ready to die?"

Police said the gunman graduated from school last year and did not have a criminal record.

According to the media, the injured suffer from bullet wounds and shrapnel, and a heart attack.

"Our children should not have to go through this," St. Louis Mayor Techora Jones said at a news conference after the shooting.

Data from Education Week show there have been at least 35 school shootings since the start of the year.

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