Police in Washington state say one person was killed in a high school shooting in addition to the lone student gunman.

Marysville Police Commander Robb Lamoureux said Friday that police are continuing to search Marysville Pilchuck High School.

A hospital spokeswoman said earlier that three victims were in critical condition after the shooting about 30 miles north of Seattle.

It was not immediately clear if the person who died was one of those brought to Providence Everett medical center.

"I think that it's time that we start thinking about the possibility of making mental health treatments standard and more preventative," said Dr. Scott O'Brien, Priority Health Child Pyschologist. "In other words, just like we have kids undergo physical exams and routine exams, we need to have kids undergo routine psychological care. Some might think that's not necessary, but I think the price of not doing so is much greater than the price of doing so."

Police were going room by room, searching the school about 30 miles north of Seattle, to make sure it was safe.

"It is an active scene,'' Lamoureux  said. "We do ask parents to please stay away.''

Adam Holston, 14, a freshman, was just leaving the lunch room when the gunfire broke out.

"Everyone just started running,'' he told The Seattle Times. "I could hear the gun shots and my heart was racing and we didn't know what was going on.''

There were conflicting reports about the number of possible injuries. Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, said the facility was expecting one patient but had no other information.

A crowd of parents waited in the parking lot outside a nearby church where they were being reunited with their children.

Buses pulled up periodically to drop off students evacuated from the school, with some running to hug their mothers or fathers. Some parents were sent back to their cars to get their identifications before they could leave with their children.

Ayn Dietrich, an FBI spokesperson in Seattle, said the agency had personnel on their way to the scene to help authorities with the investigation.

The latest school shooting in the region happened at Seattle Pacific University, where a gunman killed one student and wounded two others on June 5.