Wisconsin police said an active shooter threat was “neutralized” before he was able to enter a middle school with a rifle.
Police responded to reports of the active shooter at the Mount Horeb Middle School in Dane County at about 12:30 p.m. local time.
School officials reassured parents that none of the students were harmed and that the suspect did not breach the entryway of the school. The schools of the Mount Horeb Area school district went into a hard lockdown after the active shooter report.
One witness who worked about a block away from the school said she heard numerous gunshots and saw dozens of students running away.
“I thought it was fireworks. I went outside and saw all the children running,” said Jeanne Keller to the Associated Press. “I probably saw 200 children.”
Parents were frantically trying to find their children after hearing about the lockdown.
“One of my daughters is still inside of the middle school as we speak, but all we know is that there are some kids that want to shoot,” said parent Brittany Rodriguez in an emotional interview with WISN-TV.
“To get a call when you’re at work of your babies crying, saying that there’s a shooting going on and, ‘We’re scared,’ and you’re 30 minutes away from them!” she added.
Officials later confirmed that the suspect had been a student of the middle school. They also said that Mount Horeb Police shot the student and that they were wearing active body cameras at the time.
Another parent said her children were leaving the school when the shooting happened.
“I literally have one that left the middle school five minutes before the shooting happened,” Melissa Alvarado said to WMTV-TV. “My other one was on this side of the school when the shots were fired and she said all the teachers were telling the children, they were yelling telling all the kids to run to the other side of the school and then about a half hour later she called and said they were barricading doors.”
Democrat Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers released a brief statement about the shooting on social media.
“I have been briefed on the incident at the Mount Horeb Area School District and am closely monitoring the situation,” he posted. “I am praying for the health and safety of our kids, educators, and staff and grateful for the first responders who are working quickly to respond.”
School officials credited their security precautions for preventing the alleged threat from entering into the school.
Here’s more about the incident:
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Source: TheBlaze
