A man has reportedly been found dead after a shooting near an elite prep school that has left four people wounded in Washington DC.
Police have locked down the wealthy Van Ness neighbourhood of North west Washington, which is adjacent to the Edmund Burke School, after the reported attack on Friday afternoon just as classes were about to be dismissed for the day.
They said they were looking for a "person of interest", 23-year-old Raymond Spencer, over the incident.
Now it is claimed that Spencer has been found dead.
"The suspected gunman has been located on the fifth floor, 2950 Van Ness St NW DC. He is deceased," wrote Twitter user Alan Henney.
An eyewitness told local television station WUSA-TV he heard rapid-fire shots lasting about a minute, and saw a woman running out of a building who appeared to have been grazed by gunfire, followed by other individuals who were apparently wounded.
The eyewitness said he saw other people on the street taking cover behind parked cars and pointing up to a balcony where they presumably believed the gunshots were fired.
Three people struck by gunfire near the private college preparatory school were taken to area hospitals - a 54-year-old man and a woman in her mid-30s with severe wounds, and a 12-year-old girl wounded in the arm, police said.
A fourth victim, a woman in her mid-60s, was treated on the scene for a slight graze wound, according to Assistant Police Chief Stuart Emerman.
Authorities had said they had no motive for the shooting but they were looking for "a person of interest".
At a second briefing Friday evening, Asst Police Chief Emerman said they were seeking a "person of interest" they named as 23-year-old Raymond Spencer, of suburban Fairfax, Virginia, identified by investigators of through social media postings.
"We'd like to speak to Mr Spencer, figure out if he has any role in this or any connection to this, and hopefully that will lead us in the direction to identify what happened here and why," said the police chief.
Earlier he had said that a search had begun for perpetrators and several individuals seen fleeing the scene were briefly detained for questioning but none were believed to have been involved.
"I do not believe that we have any suspects at this time detained," he said.
"We're looking for any suspect or suspects. We do not have a motive at this time," Asst Police Chief Emerman told reporters.
"We do not know the full details of what took place. But we continue to ask the public to just steer clear of the area as we continue to investigate."
Deaven Rector, 22, a law student, said he lives in the AVA Van Ness apartment building where he believed the shots originated and heard three bursts of gunfire.
"Right now the police have secured the area, and it's safe, but the fact that this type of chaos can be caused by a maniac on a regular Friday ... the kids were about to get out of school," he said.
Jennifer DiGiacinto said she was at home working when she learned of the shooting from a text message sent by her son, an 11th grader at the Burke School.
"He said, 'there's something bad happening, I need you to turn on the news.' I said, 'why, what's happening?' And he said, 'Gunfire, I'm under a desk, we're barricaded in','' she explained.
"This is unheard of," she continued. "But just because you live in Washington DC, doesn't mean you're going to avoid what's happening elsewhere. So this is part of our culture now, isn't it? And sad."
News footage on local television showed Connecticut Avenue blockaded by emergency vehicles. Dozens of police vehicles, with flashing lights, were parked outside the school building, as police in full tactical gear and some in camouflage assembled nearby.
Local NBC affiliate WRC-TV aired footage showing people being evacuated from a nearby building and running down a pavement, some with their hands raised.
"It was madness. I mean, it's just unbelievable," Jade Moore, an Edmund Burke parent, told local ABC affiliate WJLA-TV of the incident, which she said left her daughter huddled inside a classroom until police escorted her and other students to a safer part of the campus. "You know, you think they're safe, but you're not safe anywhere."
