A shooting by a 12-year-old girl at a Californian school in thought to be unintentional, Los Angeles police say.

Police checked students as they were evacuated from classrooms -- Photo: CBS

The girl has been charged with "negligent discharge of a firearm" after the incident left five injured.

A 15-year-old boy, who was shot in the head, and a 15-year-old girl, who was shot in the wrist, are both in a stable condition and are expected to make a full recovery.

A semi-automatic handgun was recovered at the scene.

It happened at 08:55 local time (16:55 GMT) on Thursday at Salvador Castro Middle School in the Westlake district.

An 11-year-old boy, a 12-year-old girl and a 30-year-old woman sustained minor injuries but were not shot directly.

A student who was at the classroom at the time told ABC News that he believed the girl thought the weapon was a toy gun and "didn't mean to" shoot anyone.

According to a website tracking US Gun Violence Archive, there were over 2,000 unintentional shootings in the country in 2017. This incident is the 166th accidental shooting so far this year.

It is also the one of at least three shooting incidents at US schools in recent weeks.

On 23 January a student in Kentucky opened fire on fellow students, shooting 17 and killing two.

A day earlier, a 16-year-old student was apprehended after wounding a student at a Texas school.

Source: BBC