<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>At least three people, including the suspect, have died and seven others are injured after a shooting at a high school in St Louis, Missouri.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The gunman entered Central Visual &amp; Performing Arts High School shortly after 09:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The doors of the school building were locked and it was not immediately clear how the suspect entered.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Witnesses say lives were saved after the gunman's weapon jammed mid-attack.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">St Louis Public Schools say police "quickly stopped" the gunman.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The suspect, identified by police as a 19-year-old former student, exchanged gunfire with police and later succumbed to his injuries.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">His motive for the attack at the school of about 400 students is unclear.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">A teenage girl was pronounced dead inside the school, while one woman died in hospital, police told local media.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The seven injured - three girls and four boys - all had non-life-threatening injuries, according to local media.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Students were running out of the school when officers arrived and said the attacker had a "long gun", according to the city's police commissioner Michael Sack.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">He said seven security workers on site had acted quickly to notify other staff and contact police.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The gunman was found to be carrying hundreds of bullets that were sorted into nearly a dozen high-capacity magazines, Mr Sack later said, adding: "This could have been much worse."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"This is a heart-breaking day for all of us," he added. FBI agents are helping the investigation.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">One student told the KMOV local news station the attacker had walked up to a friend and asked her: "You ready to die?"</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Raven Terry said: "We just ran real, real fast... and we were just crying, all shaken up about it."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Taniya Gholston, 16, told the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that the gunman had entered her classroom and tried to shoot her.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"I was trying to run and I couldn't run," she said. "Me and him made eye contact but I made it out because his gun got jammed."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">She said she overheard the attacker saying: "I'm tired of this damn school."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Police said the gunman graduated last year from the school and had no history of criminal behaviour.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">One of the victims was identified by family as health teacher Jean Kuczka.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Kuczka, 61, had taught at the school since 2008, according to an online biography, and was a grandmother of seven.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"My mom loved kids," her daughter Abigail Kuczka told the Post-Dispatch, adding that she had died protecting her students.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Those injured are said to be suffering from gunshot wounds, shrapnel injuries and cardiac arrest.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"Our children shouldn't have to experience this," St Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said at a news conference after the shooting.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"They shouldn't have to go through active shooter drills in case something happens. And unfortunately, that happened today."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Data from the Education Week outlet show there have been at least 35 school shootings, in which at least one person was killed or injured, so far this year.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Earlier on Monday, a teenager in Michigan pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including terrorism and first-degree murder, after a rampage at his high school last November. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>