DeKalb County School Districtpolice have identified a suspect who allegedly shot a BB or pellet gun into an Atlanta-area elementary school playground on Thursday afternoon, injuring 10 students.
“The shots appear to have come from a position away from the school grounds,” the statement continues. “There was never a threat of anyone getting into the school building and the remaining students were not injured.”
A Friday afternoon statement from the school district says police “identified a suspect” and “retrieved the allegedly involved pellet gun.”
The suspect’s name has not been released.
Wynbrooke Elementary School.
In an interview withChannel 2 Action News, 11-year-old Caleb Edmonson recalled being in the school cafeteria, eating lunch, when he began hearing news of an active shooter. (The outlet reports the incident took place at about 1 p.m.)
“The teacher that was in there, he was asking the janitors to lock the doors and then he was trying to close the blinds,” Caleb told the reporter. “[Then] everybody started to get a little bit panicked, but people started to think it was a drill. A couple minutes later we saw an ambulance, police officers coming in, running down our hallways.”
One father, Kevin Johnson, spoke to the outlet and said his son, a first-grader, was one of the students shot but that he was grateful for emergency responders’ quick action.
“I’m glad that the ER was able to pick him up and get him taken care of quickly, because it could have turned into something way worse. It could have been a real gun andthese kind of problems have got to stop,” Johnson told Channel 2 Action News.
Channel 2 Action News confirmed that the injured students were released from the hospital just after 2 p.m., where they returned home with their parents.
“Thehealth and safety of our studentsis, and always will be, the number one priority at The DeKalb County School District,” the district’s statement continues. “DeKalb Police officers are assisting DCSD Police in the investigation.”
source: people.com
