Students are escorted out of Saugus High School after reports of a shooting on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019, in Santa Clarita, Calif. (Photo: AP)

California (People's Daily) - A student gunman opened fire at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California Thursday morning, killing two students and wounding three before shooting himself in the head, authorities said. 

Shots were reportedly fired shortly after 7:30 am just as students were to begin classes. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the department received a call about the gunfire at 7:38 am. Two minutes later, sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene and found six students, including the suspected shooter, with gunshot wounds.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s Capt. Kent Wegener said the alleged student gunman was standing in the school’s quad area when he pulled a .45-caliber handgun from his backpack and opened fire on other students before turning the gun on himself. 

Thursday was his 16th birthday. The alleged gunman was taken to a nearby hospital and is undergoing treatment for a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Wegener said four people from the school were transported to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital for treatment. 

Two students, a 16-year-old female and a 14-year-old male were found dead when police arrived. Two female teenagers, a 15 and 14-year-old, and a 14-year-old male, were rushed to a nearby hospital. Their conditions were not immediately known.

The scene at the high school was chaotic. Many of the injured were being treated in a grassy area on campus before being placed on gurneys and transported to ambulances in the school’s parking lot. 

Students remained locked in classrooms for over an hour as authorities searched for the shooter. 

Sheriff’s deputies escorted students off campus while many were in tears. One student asked a question on the minds of others across the state, “What kind of a world is this?”