Image copyright Reuters Image caption The area has been cordoned off by police

A student at an American school in the north-eastern Mexican city of Monterrey has died after opening fire on classmates before fatally shooting himself, officials say.

The 15-year-old, who injured a teacher and three other students in the attack, was said to have been suffering from depression.

The nationalities of those shot at the Colegio Americano del Noreste were not clear.

School shootings are rare in Mexico.

Reports said the injured were in a serious condition.

Nuevo Leon state Governor Jaime Rodriguez named the teenager as Federico Guevara and said that his motive was being investigated, Reuters news agency reports.

Aldo Fasci, a security spokesman of Nuevo Leon state, called the incident unprecedented. He said the motive was under investigation.

A video showed the gunman shooting the 24-year-old teacher and the students, two aged 14 and one 15, the spokesman said. He then shot himself.

"[This] is result of a situation that is happening everywhere. The children have access to the internet. This has happened in other countries," he said.

Mr Fasci said it was not clear how the student got the gun into the private bilingual school, which includes pre-school, elementary and high school classes.

He added that Mexico once had a system in place to check student bags but it ended after parents complained.

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto posted a message on the social media site Twitter, saying that his thoughts were with the local community and the families affected.

"As a father and as president, what happened this morning at a school in Monterrey hurts me very much," he wrote.</s>A marine stands guard outside a high school where a student opened fire on his classmates in Monterrey, Mexico, on January 18, 2017. — AFP pic

MONTERREY (Mexico), Jan 19 — A 15-year-old boy shot at his classmates at a high school in northern Mexico yesterday, injuring at least five people including himself, officials said.

The pupil opened fire at Northeastern College in the city of Monterrey, civil protection official Oscar Aboytes told AFP.

He said the school initially told the civil protection service that three people had been killed, but when experts arrived at the school, they found those victims to be “extremely seriously” injured.

The shooter unsuccessfully tried to kill himself, Aboytes said.

In total five people were hurt, four seriously, including the shooter, state security secretary Aldo Fasci told reporters.

He said there was a video showing the boy shooting at a teacher and another pupil before shooting himself.

Mexico suffers regular gang violence but so far nothing appeared to indicate that the school shooting was gang-related.

“It is an unprecedented situation. Nothing like this has happened before” in schools in the surrounding state of Nuevo Leon, Fasci said.

Wednesday’s attack came as the northeastern state of Quintana Roo, hundreds of miles from Monterrey, reeled from two shootings, thought to be linked to gangs or drug dealers, that left nine people dead.

In 2014, 43 students from a teacher training college in southern Mexico went missing and are believed dead. — AFP</s>A 15-year-old student opened fire with a gun at a private school in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey on Wednesday, seriously wounding himself, a teacher and three other students, state officials said. Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Aldo Fasci said four of the injured, including the shooter himself, had bullet wounds to the head and were in extremely serious condition.

Fasci said a school video showed the male middle-school student first shot the 24-year-old teacher, then shot a 14-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy in the head, and a 15-year-old classmate in the arm. He then pointed the gun at classmates before shooting himself in the head.

“This had never happened” in the state before, Fasci said. He said the boy had been suffering from depression, but that the motive was under investigation.

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The spokesman attributed it to “the situation that is happening everywhere. The children have access to the internet. This has happened in other countries.”

The website of the American School of the Northeast says it offers bilingual education for students from preschool through ninth grade.

Fasci said the boy brought the gun from home. It was unclear how he got the .22 caliber pistol into the school. Mexico had once had a program to checked book bags at school entrances, but in many places it has fallen into disuse.

“‘There was a reason why book bags were checked. I think we are going to have to start doing it again,” Fasci said. Mexico had been largely spared the phenomenon of school shootings that has hit the United States. In one of the few previous incidents, a 13-year-old student shot a 12-year-old classmate in the head at a Mexico City middle school in 2004, seriously wounding her.

At the height of Mexico’s drug war between 2008 and 2011, schools in northern Mexico had considered a much greater threat the possibility that stray bullets from drug gang gun battles outside schools might enter classrooms. Some schools conducted “duck and cover” drills to combat that possibility.</s>A student has opened fire at a private school in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, seriously wounding himself, a teacher and another student, officials said.

Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Aldo Fasci said the male student shot the teacher, another student, and then pointed the gun at classmates before shooting himself.

Mr Fasci said the wounded had vital signs but were in an extremely serious condition.

He said the motive was still under investigation.

The website of the American School of the Northeast said it offers bilingual education for students from preschool through to ninth grade.

It was unclear how the student got the gun into the school.

Mexico once had a programme that checked bags at school entrances, but in many places it has fallen into disuse.</s>Officials say school shooter in northern Mexico has died of wounds.</s>A teenage student suffering from depression opened fire at an American school in northern Mexico on Wednesday, injuring three students and a teacher then shooting himself in the chin in what state officials called an unprecedented attack that was caught on video.

Local media had earlier reported three people were killed.

Aldo Fasci, security spokesman for the northern state of Nuevo Leon, said the 15-year-old student entered the Colegio Americano del Noreste with a gun and started shooting, leaving three of the victims and himself gravely injured.

“In the video, you can see the minor take out the gun, shoot the teacher and then another child,” Fasci told local television. “He is there for a while, pointing at other students, and a few minutes later he opens fire. We have no motive yet.”

Television footage showed ambulances and police outside the private bilingual school, which includes pre-school, elementary and high school classes, located south of the industrial city of Monterrey.

Mr Fasci said one 15-year-old student was shot in the arm and two 14-year-olds were shot and injured. There were no details on the nationalities of the victims.

He said the alleged perpetrator was being treated for depression and had brought a .22 caliber firearm from home.

Oscar Aboytes, spokesman for emergency services in Nuevo Leon, said all of the wounded were taken to hospital.

Photograhs widely distributed on social media showed three people lying on the floor of a classroom with pools of blood around their heads.</s>MONTERREY, Mexico — A teenage student in northeastern Mexico shot and wounded a teacher and three classmates at a private school before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.

The unidentified student opened fire Wednesday morning at the bilingual Colegio Americano del Noreste, according to Aldo Fasci, a security spokesman for the state of Nuevo León. Conditions of the wounded were unknown.

The school accepts students from preschool to the secondary level, according to its website.

The teacher is 27 years old; the shooter and the three classmates who were wounded are 14 and 15 years of age, according to Fasci.

The shootings were reportedly captured on a school surveillance camera, he said.

Monterrey is about 140 miles south of Laredo, Texas.</s>A chilling video posted to social media captures a 15-year-old student opening fire with a handgun at a private school in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey on Wednesday, wounding a teacher and three other students before killing himself.

The teacher and and two other students at the bilingual American School of the Northeast appeared to take bullets in the head from the .22 caliber pistol.

The assailant, who was being treated for depression, then killed himself.

Another student suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the arm.

The video, apparently from the school's surveillance camera, shows a female teacher collecting papers from students.

The youngsters are seated at their desks when the boy opens fire with a pistol from a sitting position, hitting a boy in front of him, who immediately slumps to the ground.

Rising from his seat next to the door, the boy next shoots the teacher, who was looking in another direction, and she falls immediately to the ground.

Students can be seen diving for cover under desks and chairs.

The boy paces the classroom, firing shots at his classmates.

He can be seen firing two shots at point-blank range into the heads of classmates with their backs turned to him as they crouch in their seats.

The boy then stands in the center of the room and turns the gun on himself.

His first shot apparently misses his head or misfires.

The shooter runs to his backpack, apparently to reload, as his classmates cower at their desks.

He appears to say something to the surviving students, who begin to rush for the door, and then he shoots himself in the head and falls to the ground.

The crowded classroom was left with a jumble of overturned chairs, blood and fallen students.

Nuevo Leon state Gov. Jaime Rodriguez said the shooter died at a hospital and that the other three victims with head wounds were 'fighting between life and death.' The boy wounded in the arm was out of danger.

State security spokesman Aldo Fasci said the student shot the 24-year-old teacher, a 14-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy in the head, and a 15-year-old classmate in the arm.

Oscar Aboytes, spokesman for emergency services in Nuevo Leon, said all of the wounded were rushed to hospital.

The website of the American School of the Northeast says it offers bilingual education for students from preschool through ninth grade.

'had depression and was being treated.'

'The classes were going perfectly well, the student stands up from his desk and pulls out a gun,' Fasci said. 'We have no motive yet.'

He noted that photographs of the shooting had been posted to social media and said the person responsible would be punished.

He also appealed to the news media to avoid using the images, which show minors.

The spokesman attributed the shooting to 'the situation that is happening everywhere. The children have access to the internet. This has happened in other countries.'

Fasci said the boy brought the gun from home. It was unclear how he got the .22 caliber pistol into the school. Mexico had once had a program to checked book bags at school entrances, but in many places it has fallen into disuse.

'There was a reason why book bags were checked. I think we are going to have to start doing it again,' Fasci said.

Mexico had been largely spared the phenomenon of school shootings that has hit the United States, where there were at least six fatal school shootings in 2016 alone.

In one of the few previous Mexican incidents, a 13-year-old student shot a 12-year-old classmate in the head at a Mexico City middle school in 2004, seriously wounding her.

In 2014, a 15-year-old was arrested for fatally shooting a 13-year-old classmate in their Atizapan school, according to La Policiaca.

At the height of Mexico's drug war between 2008 and 2011, schools in northern Mexico were more concerned about the possibility that stray bullets from drug gang gun battles outside schools might enter classrooms.

Some schools conducted 'duck and cover' drills to combat that possibility.

For confidential support call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255</s>A middle school student opened fire at an American school in northern Mexico on Wednesday, gravely injuring four students and a teacher, said Nuevo Leon government secretary, Manuel Florentino González.

He identified the shooter as a 12-year-old and gave only is first name, Federico.

Television footage showed ambulances and police outside the Colegio Americano del Noreste, south of the industrial city of Monterrey.

There were no details on the nationalities of those shot.

Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Aldo Fasci said the male student shot the teacher, another student, and then pointed the gun at classmates before shooting himself.

Fasci said the wounded had vital signs but were in extremely serious condition.

He said the motive was still under investigation.

The website of the American School of the Northeast says it offers bilingual education for students from preschool through ninth grade.

It was unclear how the student got the gun into the school. Mexico had once had a program that checked book bags at school entrances, but in many places it has fallen into disuse.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.</s>While Mexico has endured a decade-long drug war that has claimed tens of thousands of victims, the country has not seen the type of school shootings that have occurred in the United States.

A teenage student suffering from depression shot three students and a teacher at a private school in northern Mexico on Wednesday before killing himself in what state officials called an unprecedented attack that was caught on security video.The 15-year-old student pulled out a handgun inside a classroom at the bilingual Colegio Americano del Noreste and began shooting, the officials said, critically wounding three of his victims before turning the pistol on himself.Hours after the shootings, Nuevo Leon state governor Jaime Rodriguez named the gunman as Federico Guevara and said he had died. His motive was being investigated, Rodriguez told a news conference.Students who had been cowering beneath desks and chairs then fled, stepping over the shooter to reach the door.Ambulances, police and soldiers raced to the school, which offers pre-school, elementary and high school classes on the southern outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico's third largest city.Distraught parents gathered outside, where they were watched over by troops in camouflage carrying rifles and backed up by an armored car. Forensic technicians in white suits checked the scene.The nationalities and identities of the victims were not immediately divulged by authorities.Fasci said one 15-year-old student was shot in the arm, and two 14-year-olds were shot. He said the shooter had brought a .22 caliber firearm from home.Photos widely shared on social media showed three people lying on a classroom floor with pools of blood around their heads. Reuters was not able to confirm the authenticity of those images.Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto lamented the tragedy. "As a father and as president, what happened this morning at a school in Monterrey hurts me very much," he wrote on Twitter.(Additional reporting by Adriana Barrera, Gabriel Stargardter and Veronica Gomez; Editing by Simon Gardner and Daniel Wallis)
A student wounds four people in a school shooting and then kills himself in Monterrey, Mexico.