Shooter at US school used family guns

Los Angeles : A teenager who killed another student and injured three more at a school in the US state of Washington used his family's guns and sent friends notes warning of the attack, according to court documents seen by local media.

Police in Spokane County said 15-year-old Caleb Sharpe was suicidal -- and shot fellow students at Freeman High School on Wednesday to "teach everyone a lesson about what happens when you bully others," according to the documents.

Sharpe is accused of killing Sam Strahan, who confronted him as he attempted to launch his attack with a .223 caliber rifle.

County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich Wednesday said the gun jammed, and Strahan spoke to Sharpe before being shot in the stomach and face with a pistol Sharpe had in his coat.

"I always knew you were going to shoot up the school," Strahan told Sharpe, according to court records. "You know that is going to get you in trouble."

After shooting Strahan, Sharpe injured three other pupils in the hallway. They are all in a stable condition.

According to CCTV footage described in the court documents, Sharpe was eventually confronted by a janitor and dropped his gun. He is now in a juvenile detention center.

One student told police Sharpe often boasted about the weapons in his house, which were kept in a safe to which he knew the code, according to his father.

Sharpe also wrote notes to his friends weeks before the attack saying he might do "something stupid," said Michael Harper, who described himself as a close friend.

One friend passed the letter to a student counselor who was aware Sharpe was suicidal, according to local newspaper The Spokesman-Review. The school did not respond to calls from AFP seeking confirmation.

Sharpe's mother also told authorities he wrote a suicide note a week before the shooting.