The children killed were all under the age of 12, local police chief Mike Krantz said at a press conference. Two more people, a teacher and a child, were taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Police were called to the shooting at a middle school at 1 p.m. local time. When they arrived shortly afterward, the alleged perpetrator, whom authorities identified as a 16-year-old boy from the area, had already been shot dead inside the school.
The suspected shooter was shot by a member of the public who saw him enter the school, followed him and attacked him, Mike Krantz said.
The suspected shooter reportedly entered the school by shooting at the locked doors.
The FBI has been involved in the case.
"We will make available all the resources they need," FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X.
All schools and activities in the area will be closed on Friday, and crisis support will be available at the city library.
"Please hold your children and your loved ones tonight. Let them talk, let them cry and let them know that we will come together and be there for each other. We will get through this," school district superintendent Steven Cook said at the press conference.
More than 360 mass shootings have occurred in the United States this year alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), AFP reports. The GVA defines a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people are shot.
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