Teen fatally shoots self inside Indiana middle school, police say
A tipster helped police prevent students and teachers from being harmed during a shooting at an Indiana middle school Thursday morning, authorities said. Police in Richmond, near the Ohio state line, exchanged gunfire with a 14-year-old boy at Dennis Intermediate School before he shot and killed himself.
The Indiana State Police said that the school went into lockdown after being notified of a potential threat. Police were dispatched to the school shortly after 8 a.m.
"We are very, very grateful to that person who made that call," state police Capt. David Bursten told reporters. "Had they not made that call, there is no doubt in my mind that we would be having a much different conversation here right now."
Bursten didn't provide details about the person who tipped off authorities. "That person's going through a lot of stress themselves," he said.
Bursten also didn't name the boy but said he wasn't a student at the school and that he lived in the Richmond area. Police were investigating how the boy obtained a weapon.
Police confronted the boy outside the school, state police said in a statement. The boy shot out the glass of a locked door and entered the school.
Police pursued the boy, and they exchanged fire inside the school, state police said. The boy then shot and killed himself.
It was unclear if police had shot the boy. No officers or anyone at the school was injured.
"The fortunate part of this, if there is any, is that no students were injured and no officers and mainly because someone knew something and they said something," state police Sgt. John Bowling told CBS affiliate WHIO-TV. "They warned police, and police were able to respond, the school was able to follow procedure to help protect students here."