Three people are dead after a shooting at an elementary school in northern California.
The shooting took place at a Rancho Tehama elementary school at around 8am on Tuesday.
Multiple students have been airlifted from the scene but it is not yet known of those killed were children or adults.
One six-year-old child was shot twice and another, whose age is not known, was shot in the leg, according to USA Today local affiliate the Record Searchlight.
The shooter, whose age or name has not yet been given, was shot and killed by police at the scene.
Witnesses described hearing ‘hundreds’ of rounds as the shooting unfolded. Another, who lives near the school, described hearing children screaming.
One man, who was dropping off his daughter at kindergarten at the time, said there were two gunmen including one who was dressed in camouflage who he said ran away from the scene.
Police have not yet mentioned a second shooter but confirmed the school was secure.
At least three people are dead after a shooting at an elementary school in Rancho Tehama, California, on Tuesday. Above, the road which leads to the school after being taped off by police
At least two children at Rancho Tehama Elementary School were shot. It is not known whether those killed were children or adults
‘We heard multiple shots, starting with about 10, and proceeding to about 90 shots, of a high powered some kind of rifle sounding.
‘We heard a man and children screaming from my location, I’m about three blocks from the school, I could hear people screaming at the school,’ one witness, who gave her name only as Tiffany, told ABC affiliate KRCTV.
The gunman is first believed to have opened fire at a home then driven to the school where they carried on spraying bullets before being taken down.
Police in the quiet town are still trying to determine the chain of events.
One deputy, who did not give his name, was visibly shaken as he said this to reporters by the side of the road: ‘We had multiple shots fired in Rancho Tehema, that evolved to multiple victims and multiple shots at the school.
‘I am told the suspected shooter is deceased by law enforcement bullets. I don’t have a list of victims, I don’t know how many victims.
‘I know of at least three deaths.’
He confirmed there were a ‘number’ of injured victims who had been removed by helicopter and ambulance and said all of the surviving children and staff are now safe.
One man interviewed claimed the gunman was his neighbor and that he stole his roommate’s truck and shot him first before going to the school.
There was a large police presence on the road leading to the school on Tuesday morning