School shooter is student, police say

Click through images of the Granite Hills High School shooting

EL CAJON, California -- At least seven people were hurt Thursday at a suburban San Diego high school six miles from where another school shooting occurred earlier this month.

One adult and three students were among the injured, said Capt. Bill McClure of the El Cajon Police Department.

Police said they arrested Jason Hoffman, 18, a student at the school. Hoffman was wounded in a running gun battle with the school resource officer, police said.

One victim is a teen-age boy who suffered shotgun pellets to the upper chest. His injuries are considered serious.

Both were taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital, authorities said.

The alleged gunman is said to be an 18-year-old male who suffered gunshot wounds to the mouth and the buttocks during an exchange of gunfire with police.

VIDEO Police hold a news conference about the shooting (Courtesy KGTV and XETV) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) KGTV video of possible suspect in the shooting Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) An eyewitness describes the scene as the shooting took place Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   AUDIO A student recounts what he heard when the shooting occurred 705K/30 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     MESSAGE BOARD Discuss school safety     RESOURCES Granite Hills High School map Timeline of recent school shootings Risk factors for school violence Talking about school violence Gallup Poll: Parents on school shootings

The suspected gunman is undergoing surgery, but his wounds were not thought to be life-threatening, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Two adults had minor injuries, McClure said.

It was not clear whether the suspect is a student at Granite Hills High School, the site of the shootings.

"He just got out of the car, he got down like in a sniper position and just started opening fire," Chris Weston, a junior at Granite Hills High School, told a reporter. "It seemed to be a shotgun."

At least eight shots were fired, he said. "One of them came at least two inches away from my head. If I wouldn't have ducked down, I would have been shot. It's just kind of a blur from there."

Another student heard the gunfire and took off running.

"It sounded like an explosion, like in a chemistry class or something," student Ryan Carrillo told KGTV of San Diego.

Carrillo, a sophomore, heard the gunshots as he walked to a bathroom near the office of the school, which has 2,900 students. He fled to a nearby park where weeping students gathered to hug and talk. Parents ran about, frantically searching for their children.

Carrillo said he heard the shots at 12:54 p.m.

Paramedics with the shooting suspect

At about the same time, the El Cajon Police Department received an "officer needs help" call, said Dave Cook, a police dispatcher. He said two deputies were at the school for an unrelated reason.

Witnesses told KFMB-TV that a suspect, armed with a shotgun and handgun, was wrestled to the ground by police. The station said officers were searching for possibly a second suspect.

Surrounding streets were closed and students streamed from the school and walked to a nearby grade school, where they were to be picked up by their parents.

"There's parents all over the place, everybody's on the cell phones," said one man at the scene. "One mother was standing here talking with her daughter, who's actually in one of the classrooms, talking to her on the cell phone."

Police told CNN that authorities were urging parents not to travel to the school in an attempt to retrieve their children.

larger   A police officer stands by the suspect's shotgun outside the school

A staging area near the school was being set up at a nearby elementary school where parents and children could reunite, Cook said.

The shootings occurred just over a week after a forum on school safety was held, inspired by the March 5 shootings at Santana High School in nearby Santee.

Granite Hills High School is a few miles south of Santee, where two people died and 13 were wounded.

In the Santee shooting, Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams is charged with 28 felonies, including two counts of murder. Investigators say in court documents that Williams carefully planned the March 5 shooting but had no specific target.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Granite Hills High School
San Diego County Sheriff

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