Our live coverage of the shooting at the Perry High School in Iowa is ending.

For the latest updates, you can read our news story here

Image source, Reuters

The eyes of all political journalists are on Iowa, which is the first state in the US to vote on which Republican candidate should be in November's race for the White House.

Earlier today, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy was in Perry, the same town where the school shooting occurred.

He posted a video, external of himself meeting two parents at a campaign event there, telling them "we're obviously still in shock as we learn what's happened here in this community".

He added that he would "pray and reflect on how we make sure that something like this never happens again".

Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson were also due to hold events in Iowa on Thursday.

DeSantis, in an interview with the Des Moines Register, external after the attack, said that the federal government should not lead new efforts to stem gun violence.

"The federal government is probably not going to be leading that effort, I think it is more of a local and state issue," he said.

The FBI has confirmed they are helping local police.

"Agents from the FBI Omaha Des Moines resident agency are on the scene," they said in a statement.

"We are assisting the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation."

Thursday was supposed to be the school's first day of lessons after the holiday break.

Instead, about 20 minutes before classes were to begin at 08:00, gunshots rang out, scattering students and bringing roughly 150 law enforcement officers to campus.

Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day.

The attacker "made a number of social media posts in and around the time of the shooting", said Mitch Mortvedt, with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

"Law enforcement are working to secure those pieces of evidence. All evidence thus far suggests that Butler acted alone."

The explosive, he says, was "pretty rudimentary".

It was "rendered safe" by the state fire marshal and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The attacker acted alone, say investigators.

Police say six people were shot, one of them fatally.

Five of those shot were students and one is a school administrator.

The student that died was in sixth-grade, which is for 11 or 12-year-olds.

The entire crime scene was "contained in the Perry high school" and not in the middle school that is also part of the complex.

Investigators add that no racist motive is suspected and that the attacker acted alone.

Perry Chief of Police Eric Vaughn praises the quick response by officers.

"It is truly amazing to see first responders work together in these crises," he says.

The emotional chief conveys his condolences to the victims.

"They need your thoughts and prayers as well as time and space to process and to grieve," he says.

Police tell reporters the attacker was a 17-year-old student at the high school, Dylan Butler.

He carried a pump-action shotgun and a small-calibre handgun and was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

An improvised explosive device was found during a search of the school, police say. Federal officials made the device safe.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is first to speak at this afternoon's news conference.

"It's impossible to understand why anything like this happens," she said.

"But I want you to know we will work tirelessly to get the answers."

To the victims and their families she says: "Every Iowan stands with you."

We're about to hear an update from police outside of Perry High School.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says she will also be joining the news conference.

We've had very few details confirmed by police so far, and have not yet heard the number of victims or what their injuries may be.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates.

• Police have released very few details about the shooting that broke out this morning before classes began in Perry, a city of less than 8,000 people
• At a news conference earlier, Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante said there are several victims, but "it's still unclear exactly how many are injured and what the extent of those are".
• The shots broke out around 20 minutes before classes were due to begin
• The gunman, who police have identified but not yet publicly named, has died
• Police say the attacker was born in 2006, which would make them roughly 17 years old, but this has yet to be confirmed
• The school principal was one of the people injured in the shooting, the school district confirmed

Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger was injured in the attack, school officials say.

A post on Facebook from the Easton Valley Community School District says he was "injured in the incident".

"We have not confirmed the extent of his injuries so we wanted to send out a message asking for thoughts and prayers for him and his family," officials say.

Marburger has been a principal in the school district for nearly 30 years, school officials added.

An 18-year-old student told the Des Moines Register, external that she was just finishing jazz band practice about 7:37am when she heard four gunshots.

“We all just jumped,” said Rachel Kares.

“My band teacher looked at us and yelled, ‘Run!’ So we ran.”

Kares, who has a three-year-old child at home, said she heard other people yelling "get out" as she ran past the school's football field.

“At that moment I didn’t care about anything except getting out because I had to get home with my son,” she told the newspaper.

The congressman in whose district Perry High School is located has said he is "beyond angry" by the shooting and that his heart is with the local community.

"We have a duty to protect our children, families, and educators," Zach Nunn said in a statement on social media.

The Republican member adds that he is in touch with emergency services and community leaders and will "continue to monitor the situation closely".

"We will not rest until there is full accountability for this heinous act of violence."

Image source, US Pool

"We're just a couple of days into the new year and we're talking about another shooting, and that is heart-wrenching and that is heart-breaking," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tells reporters during a news briefing in Washington.

"Enough is enough," she adds.

Speaking about gun violence, Jean-Pierre says US President Joe Biden has taken "more action than any president in his first two years, signing more than two dozen executive orders to deal with this epidemic that is the number one killer of our kids".

She says the government will continue to push for the implementation of the measures signed into law.

"We have to keep doing the work".

• Read more: US gun control: Cross-party group of senators agree limited safety measures

The governor of Iowa has said "our hearts are broken by this senseless tragedy".

In a post on social media, Republican Kim Reynolds says her "prayers are with the students, teachers and families of the Perry Community".

She adds that she has been in touch with law enforcement agencies and is "continuing to monitor the situation".

Reynolds adds she will be joining a police news conference due later today.

That police update is expected to happen at 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT).

The gunman suspected of today's school shooting in Iowa is dead, the BBC's US partner CBS News is reporting.

According to law enforcement sources speaking to the network, the suspect is believed to have been born in 2006 but their identity has not been revealed.

It is unknown if the suspect is a student at Perry High School and unclear whether they died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound.

We'll bring you the latest as soon as we have it.

Police remain at Perry High School and Middle School, alongside federal law enforcement personnel.

We've recently received these pictures from the scene which show officers with rifles and wearing body armour.

Information about what happened in Perry earlier is limited. As more details emerge, we'll bring them to you on this page.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

One of Iowa's US senators has described the "appalling violence" at Perry High School and Middle School as "heart-breaking".

Republican Chuck Grassley says he is "grateful for the quick response" by school officials and law enforcement to protect students and restore safety.

He describes the local community in Perry as "strong" and says people will band together in the wake of the attack.

The Republican politician adds that he is available to help if additional resources are needed from the federal government.