Police in Marysville, Washington announced that parents and students will reunite at a local church.
Reunification Location for parents & students is Shoultes Gospel Church, corner of 51st Ave and 116th Street NE.
— Marysville Police (@MarysvilleWAPD) October 24, 2014
Marysville is a city of 63,000 about 34 miles north of Seattle. The Marysville School District has 11,500 students. The high school is believed to have about 2,500 students enrolled.
Many parents have yet to make contact with their children. King5 Seattle reports parents are being directed away from the school to a church.
Parents just received automated phone call from school dist telling them to meet kids at nearby church #Marysville pic.twitter.com/ZXNcfcu4zn
— Ted Land (@TedLandK5) October 24, 2014
(h/t @kaylaepstein)
The Seattle FBI office “has personnel on the way to the scene to offer assistance to local partners, who handled the initial response,” says spokesperson Ayn S Dietrich. “I don’t have details to provide, though, because I defer to our partners for that release.”
h/t Jessica Glenza (@jessicaglenza)
Police: One person dead, believed to be shooter
Police are holding a briefing near the school.
Cmdr. Robb Lamoureux says police are confirming one person dead, believed to be shooter, on campus.
Lamoureux says:
“At this very moment we have officers on scene that are clearing all of the buildings on campus to make sure there is no longer an active threat.”
“I don’t know the status of all of the students i know we are in the process of evacuating them.”
“It’s really just kind of a holding pattern.”
Updated
The Associated Press moves a snap reporting the shooter, reportedly a student, is dead, backing up the Seattle Times report:
MARYSVILLE, Wash. (AP) — Police: Shooter dead after attack at high school north of Seattle.
Updated
A reporter with King5 Seattle tweets a picture from outside the school:
Just arrived at HS in #Marysville where frightened parents are waiting for their kids after shooting. pic.twitter.com/K5DSkxt0Qq
— Ted Land (@TedLandK5) October 24, 2014
My colleague Alan Yuhas is watching a local news KOMO live feed, which interviewed a student named Alex who said she was in a cafeteria when the shooter entered. She said:
“I hear four gunshots, and it was behind me, so I looked behind me, so I see a gun pointed at this one kid. I know a whole bunch of kids but can’t really name names right now. Well as soon as everyone saw the gun or heard the shots they ran toward the wall. Some kids ran out the exit that I ran out of.”
“I saw them point [the gun] at the feet of the student and I ran first to the wall. I thought I’m not staying in here and so I ran out and called my mom.”
“We have practiced [for a situation like this] before but not this year yet. It would usually be a lockdown so we’ll turn off all the lights of classrooms and get away from the doors and windows, cover the windows, and get down along the wall.”
About the other students in the cafeteria, of which Alex estimates there were about 50 or 60.
“I think [the other students] could’ve [got out through the exits] but I was probably too scared. … There were a lot of kids on the side where the shooter was.”
Local authorities have announced a briefing to take place shortly. That should be watchable on one of two live streams here.
Local authorities have set up a staging area at Marysville City Hall for local media, parents and others, my colleague Jessica Glenza reports. Parents have been asked not to approach the school, the Seattle Times reports. Buses are transporting students to a Marysville church, according to local KIRO-TV.
Seattle paper reports gunman at school dead
The Seattle Times quotes two unnamed “law enforcement sources” as saying “a gunman believed to have opened fire at Marysville-Pilchuck High School Friday morning is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
The paper says there are reports of multiple people being shot inside the school at around 10.45 am local time (three hours behind ET, eight hours behind BST).
Police: A student believed to have opened fire at Marysville-Pilchuck HS is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound: http://t.co/1pQTdefFD7
— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) October 24, 2014
The Marysville School District has released the following statement saying the school is on lockdown, according to a local Kiro TV report:
“The Marysville Pilchuck High School is currently in lock down due to an emergency situation. Police and emergency services have responded. The Marysville School District lock down procedures will remain in effect at Marysville Pilchuck until further notice from law enforcement. We will continue to forward communication in cooperation with law enforcement.”
There are at least two live streams of the events at Marysville-Pilchuck high school.
Watch local Komo TV live here.
Watch local Kiro TV live here.
Here’s a map locating Marysville:
A large police response is unfolding at Marysville-Pilchuck high school, just north of Seattle, after reports of shots fired at the school.
Local news helicopter views show students leaving the school en masse.
The Associated Press has moved this snap report:
Police have responded to a high school north of Seattle following reports of a shooting.
Local television stations reported Friday that two people were being airlifted to a hospital.
Live video showed students being evacuated from Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Marysville, near Everett.
Local KIRO-TV adds this detail:
Casey Blakley and his daughter were driving by the school when they say the huge police response.
“About every 30 seconds school I had to pull over because there were so many cops and paramedics going by,” he said. “The road was blocked off from about two blocks away
“There were a bunch of kids on the next block that apparently fled the school. They were all huddled together talking to cars that drove by.”
