Iowa school shooting: 2 Des Moines students killed, 1 official injured; what we know so far

School shooting in Iowa:The year 2023 has barely started and the US is already surrounded by gloomy clouds of mass shootings and school shootings that again raise the question ofits controversial gun laws. In a recent incident in Iowa state of the US, two students were fatally shot Monday at a charter school in the state.Earlier at the Lunar New Year Day celebrations in the US, an Asian man broke into an event in California and opened fire at people celebrating the day.

In the Des Moines charter school, Iowa, two teenage students were killed and a man was seriously injured on Monday afternoon in what police said lookedlike a targeted shooting.

What do we know about the school shooting in Iowa so far?

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The school was running an educational programme that was designed especially to keep at-risk youth away from trouble and the injured man was identified as the programme's founder. The man was a rapper who left a life of gangs and violence to dedicate the rest of his life tohelping youth in Des Moines. Police said on Monday that one man had been charged in the shooting, and two other people remain in custody.

The 49-year-old injured man, William Holmes was runningan educational programme called, the Starts Right Here program. It helps at-risk youth in grades 9-12 and is affiliated with the Des Moines school district.

The two students that got killed in the shooting are both male, aged 18 and 16. Authorities said that the shooting was the result of an ongoing gang dispute.

"The incident was definitely targeted. It was not random. There was nothing random about this", Sgt. Paul Parizek said.

18-year-old Preston Walls, the accused of the Des Moines shooting

Police arrested an 18-year-old teenager, Preston Walls and charged him with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.He was also charged with criminal gang participation.Police said Walls was on supervised release for a weapons charge and had removed his ankle monitor 16 minutes before the shooting.

Police said Walls and all three victims were at the school on Monday when Walls entered a common area where Holmes and the two students were. Walls had a 9mm handgun with an extended ammunition magazine in his possession, police said, though they did not specify if he was displaying the weapon.

What happened at the Des Moines, Iowa school?

Holmes attempted to escort Walls away from the scene, but Walls pulled the handgun and began to shoot both teenage victims, according to police. Holmes, who was standing nearby, was also shot, and Walls fled the scene.

Officers on the scene observed a suspicious vehicle fleeing the scene and tried to stop the vehicle. However, Walls fled and was apprehended shortly afterwards. A 9mm handgun was discovered nearby, according to police. Three rounds were in the ammunition magazine, which had a capacity of 31 rounds.

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie said the people in the vehicle with Walls are also teenagers.

The emergency crews were called to the school immediately. When officers arrived and found two students critically injured, they started CPR right away, but the two students died at a hospital.

Last year also, Des Moines saw such an incident

One student was killed and two other teens were seriously injured in a separate shooting outside a Des Moines high school last March. Ten people were charged after the shooting, all of whom were between the ages of 14 and 18 at the time. Five of them have pleaded guilty to charges related to the shooting.