SPARKS, Nev. — A shooting at a middle school in northern Nevada has left two people dead and two boys in critical condition, rattling parents, teachers and students as they showed up for the start of the school week.

The identities of the shooter and victims weren’t immediately known. The suspect is “down,” police said, and school officials say there is no further danger.

The first reports of the shooting came in at about 7:15 a.m., about 15 minutes before the first classes were set to begin.

Students from the middle school and next door elementary school were evacuated to the nearby high school, and classes were canceled.

At the evacuation center, parents walked with their arms around their children, some of whom were in tears.

“We came flying down here to get our kids,” said Mike Fiorica, whose nephew attends the school. “... It’s really chaotic. You can imagine how parents are feeling. You don’t know if your kid’s OK.”

The shooting happened on the school’s campus, but outside the school building itself, according to police.

The school in a working class neighborhood enrolls about 700 students in 7th and 8th grades.

Sparks, a city of roughly 90,000 that sprung out of the railway industry, is just east of Reno.