A teenage boy with a shaved head crouched in a sniper position with two guns and opened fire at his high school in a San Diego suburb yesterday, hitting at least five people with shotgun pellets before police shot and injured him, officials said.
The incident at the 2,900-student Granite Hills High School took place less than three weeks after another student killed two classmates and injured 13 others in a gun rampage at Santana High School, just 6 miles away.
Both schools are part of the Grossmont Union High School District and both of the alleged assailants were reportedly taunted by their classmates.
Police identified the gunman as 18-year-old Jason Hoffman, a senior at Granite Hills High who was not very popular there, according to one student who knew him.
A spokeswoman for Sharp Memorial Hospital said 10 people were treated for injuries from the attack, including a 16-year-old boy who was hit in the upper face and chest with buckshot and was listed in serious condition. She said his wounds were not considered life-threatening.
Hoffman was also listed in serious condition with gunshot wounds to the face and buttocks, the spokeswoman said.
Witnesses said the gunman crouched into a sniper position and fired six or seven shots, reloading once, near an administration office.