A 15-year-old boy opened fire in a Michigan high school on Tuesday with a semi-automatic pistol his father had purchased days earlier, killing three fellow students and wounding eight other people before he was arrested, authorities said.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told a news briefing hours after the rampage at Oxford High School that investigators were at a loss to explain what might have precipitated "an unspeakable and unforgivable" act of violence.
The suspect, disarmed and taken into custody by sheriff's deputies minutes after the shooting began, has declined to speak with investigators after his parents retained a lawyer and denied authorities permission to interview their son, Bouchard said.
"The person who's got the most insight on motive is not talking," the sheriff told reporters.
Bouchard said he was unaware of any previous run-ins with law enforcement by the suspect, a high school sophomore, adding there was "nothing to suggest that there had been disciplinary issues or problems with him at school."
The bloodshed unfolded around midday in Oxford, Michigan, about 40 miles (65 km) north of Detroit, as terrified students and teachers taking cover inside the school flooded the county emergency dispatch center with more than 100 calls for assistance, authorities said.
Bouchard credited swift action by his deputies, who he said arrived on the scene in minutes and moved straight toward the sound of gunshots, with preventing a much higher casualty toll.
They confronted the young suspect advancing down a hallway toward them with a loaded weapon, when he put his hands over his head and surrendered, Bouchard said.
The precise sequence of events during the violence remained unclear, but police believe the boy carried the weapon into the school in a backpack, the sheriff said.
"The only information I have is that he came out of a bathroom with a weapon, and I don't know where he went first," Bouchard said.
Placed In Juvenile Detention
Police will ultimately turn over the findings of their investigation to prosecutors, who would decide what charges to bring and whether the suspect would be charged as an adult or a juvenile, the sheriff said.
For now, the 15-year-old suspect, whose name was withheld by authorities because he is a minor, was being detained in a special cell under suicide watch at a juvenile detention center, Oakland County Executive David Coulter said.
Three students died in the shooting spree - a 16-year-old boy who succumbed to his wounds en route to a hospital in a patrol car, and two girls, aged 14 and 17, authorities said.
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