The incident occurred shortly before dismissal at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 72 km from Florida's capital Miami.

Media reports inform that the shooting suspect, identified as 19-year-old Nikolaus Cruz, has been nabbed and taken into custody for interrogation. The horrific incident is being investigated by the security agencies.

A former student of the school, Cruz had been expelled over unspecified disciplinary reasons, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said at a news briefing a few hours after the incident.

Within the span of less than two months of the New Year, a score of school shootings have happened in America, reports the media.

"But, unfortunately, instead of looking into the psycho-social reasons into school violence by the existing and former-students, once again the debate has got cantered on the controversial gun control legislation in the US. There has to be in-depth study why do students get into a psyche to harm their own schools, fellow students and teachers," said social psychologist Dr Anita Srivastava of Jaipur while reacting to the news.

She was of the view that the both the parents and school management should seriously deliberate on the weak psychosocial foundation of schools since the incidents of murdering fellow students are also on rise in India too. Instead of merely tightening security and turning schools into black boxes will not help. There is a need to go for school reforms from within rather than sending circulars for tighter surveillance on students, she opined.