NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A taking pictures in a Nashville highschool cafeteria left one scholar useless and one other scholar injured Wednesday, practically two years after one other lethal college taking pictures within the metropolis sparked debate emotional about gun management in Tennessee.
The 17-year-old shooter, who was additionally a scholar at Antioch High School, then shot and killed himself with a gun, Metro Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron mentioned throughout a information convention. Police recognized him as Solomon Henderson.
Police Chief John Drake mentioned the shooter “confronted” scholar Josselin Corea Escalante, 16, within the cafeteria and opened hearth, killing her.
The injured scholar was hit by a bullet. He was handled and launched from the hospital, Drake mentioned. Another scholar was taken to the hospital for remedy of a facial harm that occurred throughout a fall, Aaron mentioned.
Metro Nashville police, federal and state businesses are reviewing “very regarding on-line writings and social media posts linked to 17-year-old Solomon Henderson” as they work to ascertain a motive, police mentioned in an announcement Wednesday night.
Investigators haven’t made a connection between Henderson and the victims at this level, and police mentioned the taking pictures could have been random, in response to the assertion.
Two college useful resource officers have been within the constructing when the taking pictures occurred round 11 a.m., Aaron mentioned. They weren’t within the quick neighborhood of the cafeteria and by the point they received there the taking pictures had ended and the gunman had killed himself, Aaron mentioned.
The college has about 2,000 college students and is positioned in Antioch, a neighborhood about 10 miles southeast of downtown Nashville.
At a household security middle close to a hospital, officers helped shocked mother and father reunite with their kids.
Dajuan Bernard was ready at a Mapco gasoline station to reunite along with his son, a tenth grader, who was being held within the auditorium with different college students Wednesday afternoon. He first heard concerning the taking pictures from his son, who “was a bit shocked,” Bernard mentioned. His son was upstairs within the cafeteria however mentioned he heard the photographs.
“He was high quality and let me know every little thing was high quality,” Bernard mentioned.
“This world is so loopy it might occur wherever,” he mentioned. “We simply have to guard the youngsters and lift them the correct option to cease them from even doing this. This is the toughest half.
Fonda Abner mentioned her niece referred to as her a few instances however that she solely heard commotion and thought it was a pocket dial. They spoke briefly earlier than being interrupted.
“It’s nerve-wracking ready out right here,” Abner mentioned.
The United Family Fellowship, a church in Antioch, held a vigil Wednesday night “for anybody locally who wants an area to hope, course of and discover consolation,” the church mentioned on Facebook.
Adrienne Battle, superintendent of Nashville colleges, mentioned Wednesday that public colleges have carried out a “variety of security measures,” together with partnerships with police for varsity useful resource officers, safety cameras with weapons detection software program , shatterproof window movies and safety techniques. vestibules that type a barrier between exterior guests and the principle entrance.
“Unfortunately, these measures weren’t sufficient to cease this tragedy,” Battle mentioned.
He mentioned there are questions on whether or not stationary steel detectors needs to be thought-about.
“While previous analysis has proven they’ve had limitations and unintended penalties, we are going to proceed to discover rising applied sciences and techniques to strengthen college security,” Battle mentioned.
In October, a 16-year-old scholar at Antioch High School was arrested after college useful resource officers and faculty officers found by social media that he had introduced a gun to high school the day earlier than. When he was stopped the next morning, officers discovered a loaded handgun in his pants, police mentioned.
Wednesday’s college taking pictures comes practically two years after a shooter opened hearth at a personal elementary college in Nashville and killed six folks, together with three kids.
The tragedy prompted a months-long effort by a whole lot of neighborhood organizers, households, protesters and others who referred to as on lawmakers to contemplate passing gun management measures.
GOP lawmakers within the Republican-majority state have refused to take action. With the Republican majority intact after November’s election, attitudes are unlikely to have modified sufficient to contemplate any significant laws addressing gun management.
Instead, lawmakers have been extra open to including extra safety to colleges, together with passing a invoice final yr that will permit some lecturers and employees to hold hid weapons inside public colleges and stop mother and father and the opposite lecturers to know who was armed.
Antioch, a various and rising space of Nashville, has been the positioning of different main shootings in recent times. A deadly taking pictures in 2017 on the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ killed one lady and injured seven folks. And in 2018, a shooter killed 4 folks at a Waffle House.
State Rep. Shaundelle Brooks ran for workplace largely due to her son’s demise within the Waffle House taking pictures and was elected final yr after the Covenant taking pictures. He mentioned the Antioch High School taking pictures reinforces the necessity for gun management reforms. “We should do higher,” he mentioned.
“Ever since I misplaced my son Akilah in a mass taking pictures in 2018, I’ve fought to make sure this by no means occurs once more,” the Nashville Democrat mentioned in an announcement. “Here we’re, nearly 7 years later, and our communities are nonetheless affected by gun violence.”
Samantha Dickerson had taken her 14-year-old son’s cellphone as punishment, so when she acquired a textual content from his college concerning the taking pictures, she had no option to contact him.
“I used to be nervous,” she mentioned. “I used to be actually about to break down.”
After about three hours of ready, he lastly acquired a cellphone name from his English trainer and spoke to his son.
“When I heard his voice, I burst into tears and began crying,” she mentioned.
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