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Three people killed by female shooter in US state of Maryland

Several people were shot on Thursday in Perryman, Maryland, and residents were asked to avoid the area, according to authorities.

A female shooter has shot and killed at least three people in the US state of Maryland before she was wounded and transferred to a hospital.

The shooting took place Thursday at about 9:00 am local time at a Rite Aid company warehouse in the city of Aberdeen.

WBAL-TV, a local network in Maryland, reports that the shooter is a woman who is now in hospital.

Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler told reporters that the suspect is in a critical condition and that she used a handgun during the attack.

He said officers didn’t fire their weapons, suggesting the shooter tried to take her own life.

Rite Aid, a US pharmacy chain, confirmed that the shooting was in one of their buildings and said they learned about it from someone inside.

The shooting occurred a day after a man entered a court building in the state of Pennsylvania, located north of Maryland, and shot and wounded four people, including a police officer, before he was killed by police, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said his office was “closely monitoring the horrific shooting.”

“Our prayers are with all those impacted, including our first responders,” Hogan wrote on Twitter. “The State stands ready to offer any support.”

The United States loses around 33,000 people to gun violence every year. Additionally, more than 100,000 people are shot each year in the country at a total cost of $45 billion, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs.

Amnesty International said in a scathing report last week that the gun violence situation in the United States has grown into a full blown "human rights crisis" amid inaction from the US government.

The report said “all aspects of American life have been compromised in some way by the unfettered access to guns, with no attempts at meaningful national regulation.”

“The US government is prioritizing gun ownership over basic human rights. While many solutions have been offered, there has been a stunning lack of political will to save lives,” said Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA.

"Our government has allowed gun violence to become a human rights crisis," she said.

The issue of gun violence has become all the more polarizing under President Donald Trump, a Republican whose presidential campaign was funded partially by the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Trump has been reluctant to address the growing issue in his speeches and following several high-profile mass shootings in the country.


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