Speed Reads

School Shootings

Washington state high school student opens fire, killing classmate who tried to stop him, wounding 3 others

A 10th grade student opened fire at a high school near Spokane, Washington, on Wednesday, killing one student and injuring three others. Witnesses said the attacker rode a bus to school, carrying a rifle and handgun in a duffel bag. Three injured girls were rushed to a hospital in stable condition. The boy who was killed, Sam Strahan, was shot in the head as he urged the shooter, whose first gun had jammed, to stop firing. A staffer was credited with tackling the armed boy, identified by students as Caleb Sharpe, before police arrived. The attacker's "face was completely passive," said Elisa Vigil, a 14-year-old freshman. "I crouched down in the hall. I looked up and a girl screamed, 'Help me, help me, help me.' ... She was shot in the back."

You can learn more in this report from local NBC affiliate KHQ.

"These are senseless, tragic events that really don't need to happen and I don't really understand them," Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told reporters.