A student at Sparks Middle School in Reno, Nev., described witnessing a shooting that police said left two people dead and two others critically injured around 7:15 a.m. on Monday.
Police said the gunman, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was a student at the middle school. Also killed was a school staff member who tried to stop the gunman, and who police described as a hero, as my colleague Timothy Williams reports.
Kyle Nucum, 13, told the Reno Gazette Journal in a video interview that he was near the basketball court when he heard what he first thought was a firecracker. “We heard a loud pop and everyone was screaming,†Mr. Nucum said. “A teacher came by to investigate. The student was pointing a gun at the teacher after the teacher told him to put it down. Then the student fired a shot at the teacher. And the teacher fell and everyone ran away.â€
He said he heard four or five more shots as he and other students fled into a nearby neighborhood.
At a news conference, police said that more than 150 officers from Sparks and nearby communities responded to the scene.
Law enforcement officials said that no motive for the shooting was known.
