updates with shooter captured, background


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday January 3, 2007

Washington- A student was shot and killed at a high school
in Washington state, according to media reports Wednesday.
Witnesses told local broadcaster KIRO TV that they heard three
shots fired in the hallway of Henry Foss High School in Tacoma
Washington around 7:30 am on the first day of school after a
Christmas break.

Police said they had taken the attacker into custody, but the
motive for the attack and the relationship between the shooter and
the victim was not yet clear.

The injured student was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead
upon arrival, CNN said.

"I know it was bad because there was a lot of blood," a student
told KIRO.

Students had been evacuated safely from the building, reports
said.

School safety has been a hotly debated topic in the US after
several spates of violence in the last decade.

Most recently, an adult gunman in October entered a one-room
school house in Pennsylvania and killed five girls. The victims were
members of the non-violent Amish religious sect that shuns violence
and technology.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency