MARYSVILLE, Wash. -- A student walked into his Seattle-area high school cafeteria on Friday and without saying a word opened fire, killing one person and shooting several others in the head before turning the gun on himself, officials and witnesses said.

Students said the gunman, who authorities have not identified, was staring at students as he shot them inside the cafeteria at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. As students heard the gunshots, they described a chaotic scene as many ran out of the cafeteria and building to safety while others were told to stay put inside classrooms.

The shooter was a student at the school 30 miles north of Seattle, but Marysville Police Commander Robb Lamoureux said he could not provide more information on the gunman or his motive. Lamoureux said the gunman died of a self-inflicted wound.

Three of the people who were shot had head wounds and were in critical condition, two at Providence Everett medical centre and one at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Another victim, a 14-year-old male student, was listed in serious condition at Harborview as well, the hospital said.

Witnesses described the gunman as methodical as he entered the cafeteria.

Brian Patrick said his daughter, a freshman, was 10 feet from the gunman when the shooting occurred. She ran from the cafeteria and immediately called her mother.

Patrick said his daughter told him, "'The guy walked into the cafeteria, pulled out a gun and started shooting. No arguing, no yelling."

Student Alan Perez was eating his lunch at a nearby table when he heard the gunshots.

"He had a little gun in his hand. I saw the flash from the muzzle," he told KING-TV.

Another student, Austin Taylor, told the station the shooter "was just staring down every one of his victims as he shot them."

Senior Jayden Eugenio, 17, was in the library when a fire alarm went off, then someone came over the intercom and said shots had been fired and that students should stay inside.

"I was shaking, you would never believe this would happen in your school," he said.

Outside the school, students started streaming out of the building, with some trying to jump a fence to get away, witnesses said.

Cedar Parker, a 17-year-old senior, said he was driving away from campus when the shooting happened. He let several students into his car as he heard others yelling for their friends: "Where are you?"

A crowd of parents waited in a 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.

Patrick said after the shooting, his other daughter, a senior at the school, called him "hysterical" from her classroom.

"I thought, 'God let my kids be safe," he said.

Another shooting occurred June 5 in the metro area at Seattle Pacific University, where a gunman killed one student and wounded two others.