Police were responding to a shooting at a high school in the midwestern US state of Iowa on Thursday morning, authorities said, though there was no immediate confirmation of any victims.
“There was an active school shooting situation at Perry High School,” some 35 miles (55 kilometers) from the state capital Des Moines, an employee from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office told AFP.
A news conference was scheduled for later in the morning.
Video and photos from the scene published by local media showed a large police presence.
Gun violence is common in the United States, a country where there are more firearms than people, and where attempts to clamp down on their spread are always met with stiff political resistance.
The country has already recorded three mass shootings this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nongovernmental organization that defines a mass shooting as four or more people wounded or killed.
School shootings in particular have become a totemic reminder of the country’s political deadlock.
In May 2022, a man killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
