A Georgia high school was put on lockdown on Wednesday and students gathered in its football stadium amid reports of casualties, including fatalities, and a shooter being held in custody.
Helicopter video from WSB-TV showed dozens of law enforcement and emergency vehicles surrounding Apalachee high school in Barrow county, about 50 miles north-east of Atlanta.
The county sheriff’s office issued a statement saying that police and fire service personnel rushed to the school mid-morning “in reference to a reported active shooting” and that casualties had been reported and “one suspect is in custody”.
There were media reports of two people killed and four injured, but confirmation and further information were awaited.
A statement from the White House said that Joe Biden had been informed of the unfolding incident.
It said that the US president “has been briefed by his homeland security advisor, Liz Sherwood-Randall, on the tragic shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia and his administration will continue coordinating with federal, state, and local officials as we receive more information”.
The initial casualty figures were reported by MSNBC, citing unnamed law enforcement officers briefed on the incident.
The incident appeared to be under control and students were being released at midday, a Barrow County Schools spokesperson said.
Live aerial TV images showed several ambulances outside the high school.
CNN said it witnessed a patient being loaded into a medical helicopter that had landed at the school.
The FBI field office in Atlanta dispatched agents to the high school to support local law enforcement, said Jenna Sellitto, a spokeswoman for the office.
The US has seen hundreds of shootings inside schools and colleges in the past two decades. The carnage has sparked pitched debate over lax American gun laws and the US constitution’s second amendment, which enshrines the right “to keep and bear arms”.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting