Multiple injuries reported in shooting at high school in California

A shooting at a high school in Santa Clarita, California, on Thursday morning left several people injured, authorities said. Law enforcement officers were searching for the gunman.

Local news reports put the number of injured victims between three and seven. The Associated Press, citing Los Angeles County authorities, said six injuries were reported, and television stations showed people being loaded into ambulances outside the school, Saugus High School.

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, which serves Santa Clarita Valley, said in a tweet shortly before 9 a.m. local time that it had received two victims of the shooting, both in critical condition, and that three more were en route.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department urged people to avoid the area and tweeted that a male suspect in black clothing was last seen at the location.

“There is an active shooter at Saugus High School,” a deputy with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station said. “We’re on the scene and handling it.”

All the middle and high schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District, as well as neighboring elementary schools, were being locked down, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station said.

Sgt. Bob Boese, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, told the NBC station in Los Angeles that officers were going through the school looking for the gunman and had expanded the search to the area around the buildings. Helicopters were also being used.

He said that there were at least three victims and that all of the “gravely injured” had been removed, though he cautioned that other students might have sustained other injuries during the shooting and the evacuation.

A weapon has been recovered, Boese said, though he would not offer any details about the type. He said he did not know if the gunman was carrying more than one weapon.