PERRY, Iowa - A sixth-grade student was killed on the morning of Jan 4, and five other people wounded, when a teenager opened fire at an Iowa school, law enforcement officials said.

The suspect was identified as a 17-year-old student at Perry High School, officials said at a news briefing.

He was found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound by responding officers.

The shooting occurred on what was to be the first day of the spring semester, according to the school district’s calendar.

Perry, a town of about 7,900, is about 60km north-west of Des Moines, the state’s capital city. 

The shooting took place just after 7.30am (9.30pm Singapore time), Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said at a news briefing.

The sheriff did say that the shooter had been identified but offered no further information.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the scene, and the United States attorney-general has been briefed, a US Justice Department spokesperson said.

Few students and faculty were in the building at the time, since classes had not yet begun, Sheriff Infante said, which may have curtailed the number of victims.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who founded a biotechnology company, had been scheduled to hold a rally in Perry, but changed the event to an in-person prayer after reports of the shooting, a campaign spokesperson said.

Iowa will hold the first statewide contest for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination in 11 days.

“Pray for the community in Perry, Iowa this morning,” Mr Ramaswamy said on social media platform X. REUTERS