A suspect armed with a crossbow is on the run in Germany after a school shooting left one injured.
Shots were fired at the Lloyd High School in the northern city of Bremerhaven, according to local media.
An employee of the school was seriously injured in the attack and has been taken to the Reinkenheide Clinic, Nord 24 confirmed.
One armed suspect has been detained and officers have ordered people to stay clear of the surrounding area of the school while the German Special Task Force search the school to rule out that there are other perpetrators.
One schoolgirl heard gunshots and called the police while her classmates barricaded themselves in classrooms.
At around 11.20am UK time the first students were allowed to leave the building to be registered by authorities and given psychiatric care.
There are currently around 200 students in the building, with lower attendance than usual as some are off-site re-sitting examinations.
"The students are in their classrooms with their teachers. The police have the situation on-site under control," the police added in a statement saying their measures are continuing.
Shootings are usually rare in Germany, a country with some of the strictest gun laws in Europe and one of the lowest gun-related death rates.
You must be at least 18-years-old to apply for a license and also undergo a reliability check, which is where criminal records are checked, there are checks to see if the person is an alcohol or drug addict and whether they have mental illness.
Anyone under 25 in Germany also has to pass a psychiatric exam before applying for a gun licence.
The country has been rocked by a few attacks in recent months, with investigators in Germany's city of Essen foiling a school bomb assault last week.
Police say they arrested a 16-year-old who is suspected to have been planning a Nazi terror attack.
In January, an 18-year-old student opened fire at Heidelberg University in southwestern Germany, killing a young woman and injuring three others.
In 2009, a pupil killed nine students, three teachers and three passers-by in a school shooting at Winnenden, in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
It was the Winnenden massacre, which was carried out with legal weapons, that prompted Germany to tighten its gun laws.
The Lloyd school has set up a hotline for all concerned parents, many of whom have already gathered in front of the school once they heard the news.
The Red Cross and emergency pastors are also on-site providing care to the young students.
Students have been urged to leave the school and avoid the surrounding area including Mayor-Martin-Donandt-Platz.
