BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - A 15-year-old youth opened fire on classmates at his school in southern Argentina, killing three students and injuring five others, authorities said.
The shooting happened at the Islas Malvinas school in the town of Carmen de Patagones, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of Buenos Aires, police said
The boy, said to have been an introvert, took his father's 9mm handgun into the class after a daily ceremony for the raising of the national flag, police said.
He began shooting as students waited for a teacher to arrive, police and witnesses said. The boy's father had the weapon as a member of Argentina's border and river police.
Two girls and a boy, aged 15 and 16, died on the scene.
Authorities originally said another girl had died but they later acknowledged they were mistaken.
"There was no scuffle, no exchange of words. He had the weapon, came into the classroom and started firing at the wall without saying a word," said local police commissioner Eduardo Diego.
"And when teachers asked him what he was doing he turned the gun on his classmates and fired at the ones who had hidden under their desks."
Another student said the youth, who has only been identified by his first name, Rafael, continued shooting in the hallway.
Three of the five wounded students were hospitalized in serious condition, while the other two were released, officials said.
Rafael was arrested as he left the state school, and surrendered "in a state of shock and without saying a word," Diego added. He was transferred to detention centre in the nearby city of Bahia Blanca.
Argentina has seen a surge in school violence in the wake of a crime wave marked by ransom kidnappings and street shootings. But this is believed to be the first school shooting by a student.
"This is the first time that an event of this magnitude happens in Argentina," said Delia Mendez, a top provincial education official.
Mendez said the teen as "did not have a background of behavior problems" that would lead teachers to believe he could cause trouble.
"He was a timid boy, who was having difficulty integrating, but he never displayed any violent attitudes," Mendez said.