A shooting at a Knoxville high school on Monday left a student dead and an officer injured, Tennessee officials said.
Officers responded to reports of a potentially armed individual at Austin-East Magnet High School around 3:15 pm local time.
Officers found the individual in the school’s restroom, and they ordered him out. He refused and after he fired shots, at least one officer returned fire, Director David Rausch said during a news conference.
Officers found the individual in the school’s restroom, and they ordered him out. He refused and after he fired shots, at least one officer returned fire, Rausch said.
The gunman, who was identified as a student at the school, died at the scene, Rausch said. Authorities are yet to release the student’s name.
A Knoxville officer was hit at least one time and taken to UT Medical Center, police said. Initially, authorities said the officer had non-life threatening injuries.
But in the news conference late Monday, Knoxville Police Chief Eve Thomas said the injured officer is in surgery and listed in serious condition.
“This wasn’t a school shooting, this was an officer-involved shooting inside of a school, much different. At this point, the student hadn’t done anything with the firearm until the officers engaged,” Rausch said. “It’s important to make that distinction.”
Austin-East Magnet High School will be closed for the next two days, according to a tweet from Knox County Schools.
Austin-East Magnet High School is a Title 1 school, which is a federal program that provides financial assistance “schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families,” according to the US education department.