Shooting reported at California high school, multiple believed to be injured – ABC News, Google News

One person is dead and several others are injured after a shooter opened fire early Thursday morning at a high school in Southern California.

A suspect has been taken into custody, authorities said, after terrified students barricaded in classrooms and fled the Saugus High School campus in Santa Clarita.

“I just started running,” sophomore Brooklyn Moreno said. “There was girls falling in front of me and I tried to help them up, then just kept running cause I didn’t want to get hurt, either.”

While fire officials said six people were hospitalized, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said at least three people, all students, were hurt, including at least one gunshot victim.

Henry Mayo Hospital said one female patient died and two male patients were in critical condition.

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Villanueva said the suspect is being treated at a local hospital. The sherifftold ABC Los Angeles station KABCearlier that the suspect was believed to be part of the student body.

The shooting began at 7: 05 am local time during what’s called “Zero Period,” roughly an hour before the school day officially begins at 8 a.m. and is often used for extracurricular classes, police told ABC News.

Stefanie Dazio / AP

When 17 – year-old Hayden Trowbridge heard the gunshots, his classmates pushed their desks to the door as a barricade, he told ABC News.

The teen said he grabbed his metal water bottle to use as a weapon as they all hid under their desks, crying and holding each other.

Trowbridge said he had also practiced putting a book in front of his chest to protect against a fatal shot, but he didn’t have anything big enough nearby.

Moreno said she was in the school’s quad when she heard what she thought was a balloon popping. She took off running.

“I never thought this would happen at my school,” Moreno told KABC. “I’m still kinda in shock right now. I’ve been shaking and crying a lot – I’m an emotional wreck.”

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One student told KABC he was headed to school when a few friends texted him to not go because they heard shots.

“At first I didn’t believe it,” said the sophomore. “You would never think this would happen … I saw cops and I stopped and I called my mom and she told me to come straight home.”

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Students were led single file through the campus by armed officers. Multiple ambulances were spotted at the scene as worried parents jammed the streets.

As the search for the suspect was unfolding, officials urge those who live in the area to lock their doors and other schools were placed on lockdown.

ABC News Map Illustration / Google Earth

Misty Wolf, a Saugus High School graduate whose 16 – year-old daughter goes to a nearby school, said they were just arriving when her daughter’s school was placed on lockdown.

“We were all getting there and parents heard shots – or what we thought were shots,” Wolf told ABC News. “The nice guy who waves us in the lot every morning started shouting at the kids walking to get out of the way get up the hill. … We were all trying to get out. People were confused.”

“Having my kid, who is already dealing with things in life, being scared because I told her to duck down because they don’t know where the shooter is – is hard,” Wolf said. “There was another [school lockdown] a few years ago and she never wanted to leave her classroom after it. I’m worried that this will make her not want to be at school because she doesn’t feel safe.”

Moments before news of the shooting broke,Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Was on the Senate floorcalling on his colleagues to bring up a universal background checks bill that was passed by the House earlier this year.

He asked for unanimous consent to pass the legislation dubbed the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 “that would establish new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties. The House approved of the measure in February in a 240 – 90 vote.

His fellow Democratic Connecticut senator, Richard Blumenthal, was in the middle of his remarks on gun violence when he was handed a note informing him of the reported shooting.

In August, the William S. Hart Union High School District, which includes Saugus High School, voted to extend a contract for school safety for another year for $ 1. 05 million, local newspaper,The Santa Clarita Valley Signal, reported. Schools in the district began holding lockdown drills several years ago, a public information officer for the school district told Santa Clarita radio stationKHTSin 2018 after the Parkland shooting in Florida.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

ABC News’ Olivia Rubin, Mariam Khan, Ella Torres, Jesse Convertino and Kelly McCarthy contributed to this report.