Skip to main content
Best News Website or Mobile Service
WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Hamburger Menu

Advertisement

Advertisement

World

Student shot dead at Knoxville, Tennessee high school after police say he fired on them

Student shot dead at Knoxville, Tennessee high school after police say he fired on them

Knoxville police work the scene following a shooting at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Apr 12, 2021. (Photo: AP/Wade Payne)

KNOXVILLE: Police shot and killed a Knoxville, Tennessee, high school student on Monday (Apr 12) after they said he opened fire on them in a campus bathroom, wounding an officer.

The shooting, which unfolded at about 3.15pm local time at Austin-East Magnet School on the east side of Knoxville was the latest episode of gun violence in the United States since mid-March.

The wounded police officer was struck by a round in the upper leg and was in serious condition following surgery at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, Knoxville police officials said. He was expected to survive.

"He is conscious and in good spirits ... He's going to be OK. I thanked him for putting his life on the line to protect students and staff at the school. He said he'd rather be hurt than anybody else," Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon told CBS News.

Knoxville police said they responded to Austin-East after getting reports of a gunman at the school and found the suspect in a bathroom.

"As officers entered the space, the suspect reportedly fired shots, striking an officer. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene and has since been identified as a student at Austin-East," David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, told an evening news conference.

Knoxville Police Chief Eve Thomas, speaking at the same news conference, called the incident "chilling." Police had initially reported multiple gunshot victims in the attack.

READ: Biden attempts to tackle US gun violence 'epidemic'

PARENTS RUSH TO SCENE

Austin-East was locked down following the gunfire and parents who rushed to the scene were directed to pick up their children at a rear entrance. Police later established a reunification site for students and their parents at a baseball field.

A mother who had been separated from her daughter was waiting near the school and told reporters she was greatly relieved to receive a text message from the girl that she was safe.

Agents from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting in the investigation, the bureau's Nashville office said on Twitter.

The Austin-East community has been shaken by gun violence this year. Four other students at the school were killed in recent months in shootings in the city, according to media reports.

In shootings across the US since mid-March, a man opened fire last week at a Texas cabinet-making plant where he worked, killing one person and wounding six before he was arrested, authorities said.

Eight people were slain at Atlanta-area spas, 10 people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, and four people, including a 9-year-old boy, at a real estate office in the Southern California city of Orange.

Source: Reuters/ec/vc

Advertisement

Also worth reading

Advertisement