One dead, two in critical condition after shooting outside U.S. high school

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Xinhua) -- One teenager died and two others remain in critical condition after a shooting outside a high school in Des Moines, the capital city of midwestern U.S. state of Iowa, authorities said on Monday.

The victim who died was a 15-year-old boy and the two injured were females, aged 16 and 18, emergency officials told reporters.

Police said they started receiving calls around 2:48 p.m. CT (2048 GMT) on Monday and have detained possible suspects. The gunfire reportedly came from a passing vehicle.

Des Moines police tweeted earlier that there were "multiple shooting victims" outside East High School, located about 1.5 miles (about 2.4 km) northeast of the city's downtown.

Officials have not released the victims' identities, nor have authorities confirmed whether they were students.

The school was temporarily on lockdown, but has been given the all-clear, Des Moines Public Schools said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

"Police are actively investigating," the statement read. "Students are dismissing on time."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Kansas City Field Division, which covers states including Iowa, tweeted that special agents from its Des Moines field office are assisting police with the investigation.

"This is a dark day for the city of Des Moines," police chief Dana Wingert said Monday evening. "Another tragic loss of life. Everyone of them is tragic, everyone of them is pointless."

As of Monday, more than 9,100 people in the United States have died or been injured due to gun violence this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The incident at the Des Moines high school was the 24th school shooting in 2022 in the United States, a nonprofit search group tweeted Monday evening.