Authorities said a student who shot four people at a high school in Washington state on Wednesday killed a fellow student who attempted to stop him and wounded three others before a staffer heroically stopped him, authorities said.
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said the shooter came to Freeman High School in Rockford armed with two weapons, and one jammed when he tried to fire it.
The sheriff says a student approached the shooter and attempted to block him before he was shot and killed.
Knezovich says the gunman then shot three additional students before a school staff member stopped him.
The sheriff called it a courageous action by the staffer.
A student at Freeman High School in Rockford, Washington, shared this photograph of students sitting on the floor during a shooting on Wednesday
The three wounded students were rushed to hospital and are expected to survive.
Knezovich says no officers fired their weapons and the gunman had been disabled by the time officers arrived.
Knezovich says the suspect is the county’s juvenile jail.
Another student, 15-year-old Michael Harper, says the gunman is a classmate.
Harper told The Associated Press that the suspect had long been obsessed with past school shootings.
Students were evacuated from Freeman High School in Rockford, Washington (above) shortly after the shooting
A student is seen being taken away from the school after reuniting with her family
He says he saw the student at school with a duffel bag.
The suspect is in custody and hasn’t been identified by authorities.
Harper, a sophomore, said the suspect had brought notes to school in the beginning of the year, saying he might get killed or jailed.
Harper says some students alerted counselors.
The teen said the suspect wasn’t bullied, calling him ‘nice and funny and weird.’
‘He was weird,’ Harper said.
‘And he loved the show “Breaking Bad.” He never really seemed like that person who had issues. He was always nice and funny and weird.’
He said that the boy had been watching documentaries about other school shootings before Wednesday’s incident.
‘One of my best friends brought a gun in a duffel bag to school and I guess three people were shot and one was killed and we all hid in the corner of our home room,’ Harper said.
‘We were all crying and texting. We heard the gunshot and heard everyone running and screaming.’
Parents were seen taking their younger children out of the nearby elementary and middle school afterwards
Parents flocked to the scene and were forced to wait for news behind police lines
There was a flock of police cars and parents’ vehicles shortly after the shooting at 10am on Wednesday
Other students said the shooter was passing out notes saying he was planning on doing ‘something stupid that could get him killed’.
He said the alleged gunman sent him photographs of a school shooting documentary he’d been watching recently but that he never imagined he would ever commit such violence.
‘I was thinking that maybe it wasn’t my friend but then I had an idea it was all the documentaries he’s been watching and thinking he sent me a picture on Snapchat when we were talking and it was a documentary and I was like: “There’s no way he could do this!” Now I’m thinking he might actually have gone through with it.’
The shooting sent worried parents to the school in a frenzied rush, authorities said.
Brian Schaeffer of the Spokane Fire Department, who didn’t release any information about a possible motive or the age of the suspect, said the shooting was especially hard for first responders, many of whom have children at the school.
Spokane County Sheriff’s Officers rushed to the scene and went ‘floor to floor’. Authorities say the shooter was ‘eliminated’ but will not say if they are still alive
Terrified parents were told to go to the campus football field to await more information
A two-lane road into the community of about 500 people near the Idaho border was clogged with vehicles.
Some people abandoned their cars on the street to make it to their children.
Cheryl Moser said her son, a freshman at Freeman High School, called her from a classroom after hearing shots fired.
Spokane Fire Department Chief Brian Schaeffer said the suspect was in custody
‘He called me and said, “Mom, there are gunshots.” He sounded so scared. I’ve never heard him like that,’ Moser told The Spokesman-Review newspaper.
‘You never think about something happening like this at a small school.’
Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital received three pediatric patients, spokeswoman Nicole Stewart said.
They were in stable condition and surrounded by family, she said.
Authorities didn’t immediately release the ages of the victims.
Stephanie Lutje told The Associated Press that she was relieved to hear her son was safe after his high school near Freeman was put on lock down.
She commended the school district for its communication.
Spokane Sheriff’s Office said it was going ‘floor to floor’, ‘room to room’ to make sure every students were accounted for
‘It’s been amazing, within probably 15-20 minutes of hearing about it, I’d already received a phone call, I’d already received a text message saying that their school is OK,’ she said.
She still worried for others she knew, including a co-worker who had yet to hear from her son, a sophomore at Freeman.
‘My stomach’s in knots right now,’ she said.
Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement that ‘all Washingtonians are thinking of the victims and their families, and are grateful for the service of school staff and first responders working to keep our students safe.’