US : Two dead, over a dozen wounded in Kentucky school shooting

A teenage boy opened fire with a handgun at a Kentucky high school early Tuesday, killing two fellow students and wounding more than a dozen people in the latest mass shooting to hit the United States.

The unnamed 15-year-old student, now in custody, is alleged to have carried out the attack at Marshall County High School in Benton, a small town in western Kentucky.

Two students of the same age died of gunshot wounds, while 12 other people were shot and five suffered other injuries during the shooting, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin said.

The suspected shooter



was apprehended in a "non-violent" manner, and will be charged with both two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, according to Bevin.

One of the students died at the scene and the other after being taken to a hospital, where five more victims were in "critical condition," said Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rick Sanders.

The shooter struck just as the school day was starting.

"The incident began at 7:57 am (1357 GMT) when a 15-year-old student armed with a handgun entered the high school and started shooting," Sanders said.