WASHINGTON: A 15-year-old student allegedly opened fire at a high school in rural Michigan on Tuesday, killing three other students before being taken into custody, police said.
Six others, including one teacher, were wounded in the attack, which took place shortly after noon at Oxford High School, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
A second-year student was taken into custody and a handgun was seized, but there was no immediate explanation for what prompted the attack in Oxford, a small town about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Detroit.
"There was no resistance during the arrest and the suspect has asked for a lawyer and has not made any statements as to a motive," the sheriff's office said.
"It's a very tragic situation," Undersheriff Michael McCabe told reporters.
"We have three deceased victims right now, who are all believed to be students," he said.
"We have lots of upset parents," he said.
Police said they received more than 100 911 emergency calls shortly after noon, and that the shooter unleashed 15-20 shots over about five minutes from a semi-automatic handgun with more than one magazine.
The suspect was taken into custody within five minutes of the first 911 call, they said.
President Joe Biden was informed of the shooting during a visit to Minnesota.
"My heart goes out to the families enduring the unimaginable grief," he said.
"You know, that whole community has to be just in a state of shock right now."
Elissa Slotkin, who represents the district north of Detroit in the US House of Representatives, said she was "horrified" by the shooting.
"I've been talking with Oxford leaders, parents and students and we are all praying for the health of those injured, and the well-being of all our young people, many of whom are in shock," she said in a statement.
It was the deadliest school shooting so far this year, according to Everytown For Gun Safety, a group which keeps statistics of mass shootings and lobbies for gun control.
Before Tuesday's incident, there had been 138 shootings in schools across the United States in 2021, according to figures provided by Everytown. In those incidents, 26 resulted in fatalities, though no more than two each time.
The deadliest school shootings in US history were the April 2007 attack at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, which saw 33 killed, including the shooter, followed by the December 2012 attack on the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 28 dead, including 20 children and the shooter.
In February 2018, a former student with an AR-15 assault rifle opened fire in his former high school in Parkland, Florida, killing 17, in the deadliest-ever high school shooting.
Three students killed in US high school shooting: Police
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Three students killed in US high school shooting: Police
- A second-year student was taken into custody and a handgun was seized, but there was no immediate explanation for what prompted the attack in Oxford
UK Labour MPs ‘scared’ to challenge Starmer on Gaza, Lebanon
- MP Zarah Sultana tells BBC ex-colleagues who disagree with PM risk losing their jobs
- Labour leader has drawn criticism over failure to do more against Israel
LONDON: A former Labour MP has said colleagues are “scared for their jobs” over disagreeing with the party’s leader, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on Israel’s war in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon.
Starmer has called for immediate ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon, saying at the UN General Assembly last week that “escalation serves no one.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy also announced a review into arms export licenses to Israel in July, amid fears that items sold to the country could be used to commit war crimes in Gaza. Thirty licenses were suspended in September.
However, Starmer has found himself at odds with many in his party, with some believing that he has not done enough to facilitate an end to the fighting in the Middle East, or that he has been slow to act. Currently, 320 arms exports licenses from the UK to Israel remain valid.
MP Zarah Sultana, who was suspended by the party earlier this year, told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program: “Many (disagree with Starmer) because we’re seeing (the) deaths of 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza. We’re seeing death in Lebanon, and we know the UK government could take a different route where it prioritized lives, treated them all equally and ended all arms sales.
“I think it’s deeply concerning that people aren’t willing to be public about that because they’re scared for their jobs.”
One of the program’s hosts, Nick Robinson, told listeners that he had contacted six Labour MPs to ask them to comment on Sultana’s claims, but said: “None would come on the program as they said, and I quote one of the MPs we contacted, ‘it would cost us our jobs.’”
Sultana was one of seven Labour MPs suspended by the party in July after voting for a Scottish National Party motion to amend the King’s Speech, which is the UK government’s policy platform for the coming year. She currently sits as an independent MP in the House of Commons.
UN releases $5 million for flood victims in Nigeria
- The flooding has affected more than 1.2 million people in at least 31 out of Nigeria’s 36 states
- Several Nigerian states hit by flooding have seen rises in the cases of cholera
LAGOS: The United Nations Wednesday said it had released $5 million to help flood victims in Nigeria, where the rainy season has killed more than 300 people and caused widespread damage.
The money from its Central Emergency Relief Fund will help “scale up the flood response and address critical needs in three of the most flood affected states in Nigeria,” the UN said in a statement. They are Borno and Bauchi in the northeast, and Sokoto in the northwest.
The flooding has affected more than 1.2 million people in at least 31 out of Nigeria’s 36 states in the West African country, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Around 127,500 hectares of farmland has also been affected.
“Floods across Nigeria have created a crisis within a crisis,” said Mohamed Malick Fall, the UN coordinator in Nigeria.
“Millions of people were already facing critical levels of food insecurity before the floods because of economic hardships that have made it exceedingly difficult for the most vulnerable to feed themselves and their families.
“The floods have compounded people’s suffering.”
The latest emergency aid is in addition to the $6 million already released by the Nigerian Humanitarian Fund.
Several Nigerian states hit by flooding have seen rises in the cases of cholera.
Last month, severe flooding disaster killed at least 31 people and forced around 400,000 out of their homes in northeastern city of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
In 2022, more than 500 people died and 1.4 million were displaced in the country’s worst floods in a decade.
More UK charter flights to evacuate nationals from Lebanon
- More than 150 British nationals and their dependents were evacuated on Wednesday
- Many commercial airlines have suspended flights to and from Beirut
LONDON: Britain will charter more flights to help citizens and dependents leave Lebanon, the foreign office said on Thursday as Israel continued to strike Beirut overnight.
More than 150 British nationals and their dependents were evacuated from the Lebanese capital on a UK government chartered flight that arrived in Birmingham, central England, on Wednesday, the ministry said.
“A limited number” of flights will depart from Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on Thursday, and “will continue for as long as the security situation allows,” it added.
The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said it was ready to support “hundreds” more to leave Lebanon in the coming days.
The statement came a day after Defense Secretary John Healey visited Cyprus, where 700 British troops and staff are stationed to prepare for the possible evacuations.
Many commercial airlines have suspended flights to and from Beirut.
“Recent events have demonstrated the volatility of the situation in Lebanon,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Thursday, reiterating his message for nationals to “leave the country immediately.”
As of last week, there were around 5,000 British nationals, dual nationals and dependents in Lebanon, according to government estimates.
Israel has intensified its bombing of southern Lebanon and parts of Beirut, saying it aims to secure its northern border after nearly a year of hostilities with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The fighting has cost more than 1,000 lives in Lebanon so far.
The British government has confirmed that two of its fighter jets and a tanker were involved in responding to Iran’s firing of a barrage of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, although they “did not engage any targets.”
Russian man jailed for burning Qur’an charged with treason
- Russia’s prosecutor general’s office said that 20-year-old Nikita Zhuravel was accused of sending footage of a freight train carrying warplanes
MOSCOW: A Russian man jailed in February for burning the Qur’an has been charged with treason by prosecutors who accuse him of passing video footage of military movements to Ukraine.
In a statement, Russia’s prosecutor general’s office said that 20-year-old Nikita Zhuravel was accused of sending footage of a freight train carrying warplanes, and information about the movements of a car linked to a Russian military base to a representative of Ukrainian intelligence.
It said Zhuravel had volunteered himself to send the Ukrainian intelligence officer the data.
Reuters was not immediately able to identify a lawyer representing Zhuravel in the treason case.
Zhuravel is serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence after being convicted under Russia’s law against offending religious believers, for publicly burning a Qur’an in his home city of Volgograd.
His case drew international attention last year when Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov published a video in which his son Adam was shown beating and kicking the defendant while he was in prison awaiting trial.
Russian investigators had earlier transferred his case to Chechnya. The Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes, said this was because they received many messages from residents of the heavily Muslim region asking to be designated injured parties.
Armed assailants kill four in attack on Mexico rehab center
- The attack took place in Salamanca in the central state of Guanajuato on Tuesday night
- Guanajuato is Mexico’s most violent state, according to official homicide statistics
CELAYA, Mexico: Armed assailants attacked a drug rehabilitation center in Mexico, killing four people and wounding five others, local authorities said Wednesday.
The attack took place in Salamanca in the central state of Guanajuato on Tuesday night, the municipal government said in a statement.
Police and the National Guard “initiated a chase to find those responsible,” but the attackers escaped by throwing down metal spikes to puncture the tires of security forces in pursuit, it said.
Police said three bodies of those killed were found inside the rehab center while a fourth was found in the street.
No suspects have been arrested yet.
Disputes between drug gangs have led to rehab centers being targeted in several attacks in Mexico.
Authorities say some rehab centers are used as safe havens by suspected members of criminal groups, who are attacked by their rivals when found.
Guanajuato is Mexico’s most violent state, according to official homicide statistics, due to fighting between the local Santa Rosa de Lima cartel and the powerful Jalisco New Generation.
Mexico has recorded more than 450,000 murders since December 2006, when a controversial military anti-drug operation was launched.
