On Friday a 19-year-old suspect gunman carried a shotgun concealed in a guitar case into a Florida high school where he opened fire, wounded a student, and was arrested by police.
The shooting took place on April 20 – the same day students across the nation participated in a walkout to protest gun violence on the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.
Suspect gunman Sky Bouche, 19, was taken into custody minutes after he opened fire by the school resource officer at Forest High School in Ocala, according to local police.
Later on Friday as he was perp walked, Bouche explained that he opened fire at random saying: ‘I just shot through the door’.
Suspect gunman Sky Bouche, 19, opened fire at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida Friday
During a perp walk on Friday he told reporters: ‘I just shot through the door’ adding ‘I didn’t see anyone’. A 17-year-old male student suffered an ankle injury in the hallway shooting
Bouche was a former pupil at the high school. His motive for the shooting is not clear
When asked why he took the shot towards the door he said: ‘I didn’t see anyone’, according to CBS News.
Bouche, who was a former student at the high school, did not reveal the motive for the shooting.
He is now at Marion County jail.
A 17-year-old male student was injured in the ankle when Bouche aimed a shot at the bottom of a classroom door. The door was locked and the pellets bounced off and injured the boy.
He was taken to a local hospital with the non life-threatening injury to his ankle.
The school’s resource officer Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy James Long is being praised for his quick thinking after he heard gunshots.
Long heard a loud bang at 8:39am on Friday and immediately rushed towards the sound, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said.
By 8:42am, just three minutes later, Long was at the hallway where the shots were fired and took the shooter into custody.
Woods added that Long ‘did not hesitate. He went right in,’ at a news conference.
The 17-year-old victim was also praised at the news conference.
Bouche, left, was apprehended three minutes after he fired shots by school resource officer Deputy James Long, right
The shooting shook Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, pictured above Friday morning
In this April 20, 2018, photo by Jake Mailhiot, desks, chairs and filing cabinets are used to barricade a classroom door during the shooting that injured one on Friday morning
Hands up! Students were told to put their hands up as police swept through classrooms
When the county’s chief deputy visited the injured student in the hospital the boy said: ‘I am so glad it was me and not one of my friends’.
The sheriff also clarified that the suspect was not harmed when he was taken into custody and that he was arrested without resistance.
‘Marion County does everything to protect their children,’ he said.
As Bouche was led away he said to reporters: ‘Sorry…It doesn’t matter anyway’.
A chilling photo taken inside the high school reveals the panic that ensued after gunshots were heard and the school went on ‘Code Red’ alert.
A photo posted to Snapchat displays a makeshift barricade of desks, chairs, and filing cabinets piled high in front of a classroom door to keep the gunman out.
A video reveals policemen sweeping classrooms looking for the gunman, yelling at students to put their hands up.
The suspect gunman did not reveal a motive for the shooting that sent a 17-year-old male to the hospital
Students and teachers are pictured hugging in front of Forest High School after Friday morning’s shooting
Students are walking hand-in-hand as they are being led out of Forest High School
May were in tears as they were leaving the school to be reunited with their parents
Chris Oliver said his 16-year-old son, a Forest student, told him the shooting took place near his classroom. The boy told Oliver the gunman was standing in a hallway and shot at a closed classroom door.
The shooter then dropped an unspecified weapon, ran and tried to hide, the boy told his father.
He was apprehended within minutes of the incident.
All students were being taken by bus to First Baptist Church of Ocala, where parents can pick them up, reported the station WFTV.
Rachael Carter was at the church waiting to be reunited with her daughter, a 10th-grader who turned 16 this week. Her pastor called her when he saw a post on social media.
‘I’m shaking like a leaf in a hurricane,’ Carter said.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods offers an update to the media about the school shooting
Armed law enforcement rush into the school to perform a security sweep following the shooting
A female student is comforted by a school official as students are led out of Forest High School
Parents and loved ones looks over the fence for students after reports of the shooting
She that once she is reunited with her daughter, she would ‘stick to her like Velcro.’
Students who saw anything related to the shooting were separated so they could be interviewed by investigators.
School district spokesman Kevin Christian sent a recorded phone message to parents by phone urging them to stay away from the school.
The Ocala Police Department, the sheriff’s office, the Florida Highway Patrol and the FBI were investigating the shooting. They divided into teams that cleared all buildings, vehicles and the parking lot area. Once all students were off campus, authorities began conducting a more methodical search of the campus.
Forest High has an enrollment of more than 2,000 students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Emotional scene were observed outside Forest High School in Ocala following the incident that injured one student
A photo shows high school students walking out of the Ocala school with their hands raised in the air Friday
An Ocala Fire and Rescue vehicle is seen at the scene of the shooting that left a student injured. On the right, officers are pictured on the scene outside the school
Safe space: All students were being taken by bus to First Baptist Church of Ocala (pictured)
Forest High has an enrollment of more than 2,000 students
Thursday’s incident comes just over nine weeks after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people.
Florida Governor Rick Scott tweeted this morning that he has been briefed about the shooting by Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods and has offered any support local officials might need.