A pupil who opened fire on officers responding to a report of a possible gunman at a Tennessee high school has been fatally shot by police.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch said at a news conference on Monday that police found the pupil in a bathroom at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, a city about 180 miles east of Nashville.

They ordered him out, he did not comply and instead opened fire which caused police to respond by firing back, Mr Rausch said.

The pupil died at the school and an officer was wounded and taken into surgery, authorities said, adding that no one else was hurt.

“It’s a sad day for Knoxville, and it’s tough for Austin-East,” Mr Rausch said.

The shooting comes as the community reels from off-campus gun violence that has left three Austin-East pupils dead this year and as more classrooms are reopening after months of remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic, which cut down the number of mass killings in the US

The nation has seen a series of mass shootings in recent weeks, including eight people killed at three Atlanta-area massage businesses on March 16 and 10 people killed at a Colorado supermarket on March 22.