Six teenagers in hospital after a fire near a school

The six victims were all attending a high school near the park where the perpetrators opened fire

5BD0BFFF 5834 4589 B7DC EAB283732108 Colorado

Six teenagers, aged 14 to 18, were taken to hospital after being injured in a fire near a high school in Orora, Colorado, but their lives are not in danger, police said.

The perpetrators of the attack, who are probably members of a gang, remained unarrested yesterday Monday afternoon. According to Vanessa Wilson, the chief of police in Orora, the six victims were all attending a high school near the park where the perpetrators opened fire. One of the children had to undergo "emergency surgery" but "we were told the injuries he sustained were not fatal," Ms Wilson told a news conference.

Shells of bullets of various calibers were found on the spot by the police. It is believed that one or more perpetrators opened fire from a car or moving cars. Asked by a reporter about this gang-style approach, Vanessa Wilson went on to say that "the investigation is still in its infancy".

"We will look into all possibilities," he added, calling on eyewitnesses and neighbors to contact police, who are trying to locate the suspects.

The police chief described the violence with the use of firearms as a "public health crisis" and added that "everyone should be" outraged "by what happened yesterday in Orora.

The state of Colorado, in the western United States, has experienced some of the worst carnage of its kind in the history of the country. In 1999, two teenagers killed 12 of their classmates and a teacher at their Columbine school. In 2012, a heavily armed man killed 12 spectators inside a movie theater in Orora during the screening of The Dark Knight Rises, a fantasy film series starring Batman.

In March, a man killed ten people inside a supermarket in Boulder, 50 miles from Denver, the Colorado capital.

The so-called mass shootings, the attacks with the use of firearms that have more than four victims according to the definition of the American authorities, are a constant plague in the USA. According to statistics compiled by the Washington Post, more than 256.000 students in the country have been exposed to some form of violence with the use of firearms since the Columbine massacre. This number includes victims, eyewitnesses and young people who were forced to leave their schools in a hurry due to fires.

(ΚΥΠΕ-ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ-AFP / ΚΧΡ / ΗΦ)