Student dead in US school shooting

Police and students gathered outside the scene of Monday’s shooting in Geauga county [WKYC Cleveland/Reuters]

A student in the US state of Ohio has opened fire with a handgun in the cafeteria of a high school, killing another student and wounding four others, officials say.

The student was then chased from the building by a teacher and gave himself up to authorities on Monday, according to the Reuters news agency.

Four boys and one girl had been admitted to hospital after the shooting at Chardon High School that sent students fleeing in panic, the Geauga county sheriff’s department said.

“One student has passed away. That’s the sad news for all of us today,” Tim McKenna, Chardon’s police chief, said.

The student was identified as Daniel Parmentor, 17, who studied computer science at a nearby vocational school and was waiting in the cafeteria for a bus when the gunman opened fire.

“We are shocked by this senseless tragedy,” said a statement from Parmentor’s family. “Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss.”

The suspect, a male student, was in custody, McKenna said.

Emergency vehicles rushed to the scene as local television footage showed students streamed from the building to meet parents. The entire school district, about 50km east of Cleveland, was closed for the day.

“All of our high school students are now safe,” Joseph Bergant, superintendent of Chardon schools, said on local television.

The shootings started in the cafeteria and the suspect was chased by a teacher out of the building, the sheriff’s office said. He later turned himself in to a bystander, it said.

“Everybody just started running,” said 17-year-old Megan Hennessy, who was in class when she heard loud noises. “Everyone was running and screaming down the hallway.”

The Ohio shooting is the worst at a US high school in 11 months and the worst in Ohio since late 2007, according to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.