NOBLESVILLE, Ind. | A male student opened fire at a suburban Indianapolis middle school Friday morning, wounding another student and a teacher before being taken into custody, authorities said.
The attack at Noblesville West Middle School happened around 9 a.m., police Chief Kevin Jowitt said at a news conference. He said investigators believe the suspect acted alone, but didn’t detail what happened or the severity of the injuries to the victims, who were taken to hospitals in Indianapolis. The identities of those involved weren’t immediately released.
An eighth-grader says he counted 16 gunshots inside his suburban Indianapolis middle school during a shooting that authorities say left a student and a teacher injured.
Indiana University Health spokeswoman Danielle Sirilla said the teacher was taken to IU Health Methodist Hospital and the wounded student was taken to Riley Hospital for Children. She didn’t know the seriousness of their injuries.
Thirteen-year-old Chris Navarro says he was in an auditorium at Noblesville West Middle School when he heard the shots Friday morning about a minute before the bell rang for the change in classes. He says a lockdown was immediately announced over the school’s speaker. He rushed into a small room with three other people to hide.
Navarro spoke as he was reunited with his parents outside Noblesville High School, where the middle school students were bused after the shooting.
A mother was so shaken up that she had to be driven to the suburban Indianapolis middle school.
Jennifer Morris appeared slightly dazed as she arrived Friday at a high school gymnasium to pick up her 14-year-old son Noah, who’s at the school.
She says she was at work Friday morning when her son sent a text message about the shooting, stunning her. She says the message was “I’m OK, please come get me.”
A student at an Indiana middle school says he saw his science teacher tackle a fellow student who fired shots inside the classroom.
Seventh-grader Ethan Stonebraker says the class was taking a test when the student walked in late, pulled out a gun and started firing.
He says the teacher “immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground.” Stonebraker adds, “if it weren’t for him, more of us would have been injured for sure.”
Jowitt says an Indiana middle-school student asked to be excused from class, then returned with two handguns and opened fire. He said the student was quickly taken into custody and didn’t confirm accounts that the teacher tackled the shooter after he fired four to six shots.
A police spokesman said several search warrants have been obtained as investigators work to determine how a suburban Indianapolis middle school student obtained the handguns he brought to a classroom.
Noblesville police Lt. Bruce Barnes declined to say whether the male student was targeting anyone during Friday morning’s shooting at Noblesville West Middle School. Barnes said the suspected shooter wasn’t injured and wouldn’t comment on whether the student had been in trouble before.
Helicopter footage showed dozens of police officers milling around the school. After the attack, students were bused to the Noblesville High School gym, where their families could retrieve them.
After the attack, students were bused to the Noblesville High School gym, where their families could retrieve them.
Among the worried parents who rushed to get their kids was Erica Higgins, who told WTHR-TV that she learned of the shooting from a relative who called her at home.
“I just want to get my arms around my boy,” she said.
Higgins said her son was shaken up but knew little about what happened.
“I got a ‘Mom, I’m scared’ text message and other than that, it was ‘come get me at the high school,’” Higgins said.
Gov. Eric Holcomb, who was returning from a trip to Europe on Friday, issued a statement saying he and other state leaders were getting updates about the situation and that 100 state police officers had been made available to work with local law enforcement.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation,” Holcomb said.
Noblesville, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis, is home to about 50,000 people. The middle school has about 1,300 students from grades 6-8. The school’s academic year was scheduled to end next Friday.
The attack comes a week after an attack at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, that killed eight students and two teachers, and months after the school attack that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida. The Florida attack inspired students from that school and others throughout the country to call for more restrictions on access to guns.
Indiana’s Senate Democrats issued a statement in response to Friday’s school shooting expressing their condolences to the victims and calling for steps to prevent such shootings, including restrictions on guns.