Shooting at Iowa charter school leaves two students dead, injures one employee

A shooting wasreported from a charter school for at-risk-children in Des Moines, Iowa, where two students died and an employee was injured following a "targeted" attack, police said.

Police responded to a report of a shooting at Starts Right Here, which runs a programme for at-risk youths. Upon reaching the scene, they found three people wounded, two of them critically.

"Those two people, both students, are dead now at the hospital,"said Paul Parizek, a spokesman for the Des Moines police department.

“The incident was definitely targeted,” Parizek said. “It was not random. There’s nothing random about this. It was certainly a targeted incident. But as far as getting motive, that is something that we are going to try and figure out.”

The Des Moines Register reported that the employee is in surgery and in a critical condition. The other two students were also taken to the hospital, but succumbed to their injuries.

The police then followed a few leads and detained three possible suspects from a car. A probe is currently on.

"I am shocked and saddenedto hear about the shooting at Starts Right Here," Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement. "I’ve seen first-hand how hard Will Keeps and his staff works to help at-risk kids through this alternative education program. My heart breaks for them, these kids and their families. Kevin and I are praying for their safe recovery."

Starts Right Now was founded by Will Holmes, a rapper whose stage name is Will Keeps. It attends to 40 to 50 students at any given time in partnership withDes Moines Public Schools district since 2021.

It helps students re-engage in the district’s Options Academy credit recovery programme, besidessupporting those with behavioural issuesacademically and emotionally.

The latest shootings comes less than 48 hours after a gunman killed 11 people at a dance studio near Los Angeles. Two more shootings were reported from northern California on Monday in which seven people have died.

(With inputs from agencies)

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