Police secure the scene near Sparks Middle School after a shooting in Sparks, Nev., on Monday, Oct. 21, 2013. Authorities are reporting that two people were killed and two wounded at the Nevada middle school. (AP Photo/Kevin Clifford)
The incident marked the latest in a string of shooting rampages across the United States in recent years, some of them at schools, that have reignited a debate over gun control.
In Connecticut last December, 20 students and six adults were shot to death by a gunman at a school in Newtown before the attacker took his own life in what is considered one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.
In Sparks, a 13-year-old eighth grader, Kyle Nucum, told the Gazette-Journal that he heard about half a dozen shots. Student Michelle Herdez said she had seen the suspect before the shooting began.
“I heard him saying, ‘Why you people making fun of me, why you laughing at me,”’ Herdez told the paper.
Sparks Mayor Geno Martini told a late-morning news conference that the shooting marked a tragic day for the city.
“I just want to reiterate again that the city itself is very safe and this is just an isolated incident,” he stated. “But it’s very, very tragic and I’m saddened to be here to have to tell you this.”
Law enforcement officials said the student gunman opened fire at 7:16 a.m. local time, about 15 minutes before classes were scheduled to begin at the school, which serves about 700 seventh and eighth grade students.
Some 150 to 200 police officers descended on the school following the shooting and searched the grounds with bomb dogs, Reno Deputy Police Chief Tom Robinson stated. Agents from the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security were assisting in the investigation, he stated.
Robinson said it was too early to tell if the boy, who was not immediately identified by authorities, was targeting anyone in the shooting rampage. Authorities also declined to immediately speculate on his motives.
Classes and after school activities were canceled at Sparks Middle School for the rest of the week and counselors would be on hand to work with students and staff members who were traumatized by the shooting, the school district stated.