A person shot dead by police at a school in Tennessee was a student who had fired at officers, wounding one them.
Police said they were called to Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville at around 3.15pm following reports of a male who was possibly armed.
Upon arrival, officers located the individual inside a school restroom, according to a Knoxville Police Department statement. They ordered him out, but he refused to comply.
As officers entered the restroom, the subject reportedly fired shots, striking an officer.
One officer returned fire.
The subject was pronounced dead at the scene and has since been identified as a student.
The wounded officer was taken to hospital with injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.
Mayor Indya Kincannon told CBS News "he is conscious and in good spirits".
There are no other known gunshot victims, said police.
David Rausch, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the inquiry into the shooting said: "We have to be careful with our language... This wasn't a school shooting. This was an officer-involved shooting inside a school."
The superintendent of Knox County Schools, Bob Thomas, tweeted that the building had been secured and students who weren't involved had been released to their families.
A "reunification site" has been established at the baseball field behind the school, police tweeted.
Tennessee senator Marsha Blackburn tweeted: "I am heartbroken to hear about the shooting at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville.
"My office has been briefed on the situation and I am praying for the community, including the officer injured in the line of duty."
There have been several mass shootings in the US in recent weeks, including 10 people killed at a Colorado supermarket - one of them a police officer.
Eight people were also killed in shootings at massage parlours in and around Atlanta last month.
And a nine-year-old boy was among four people killed at a real estate office in Orange, California at the start of April.
President Joe Biden has announced new measures to tackle gun violence but his executive actions are limited and will still likely face legal opposition from gun rights supporters.
More ambitious goals include reintroducing a ban on assault weapons, lifting an exemption on lawsuits against gun makers, and passing a red flag law allowing people to be temporarily blocked from obtaining firearms.
