Teacher Hailed As Hero For Tackling Latest School Shooting Gunman
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (CBSNewYork) – Police in Indiana credit a teacher who was shot three times with tackling a child who had opened fire in a Midwestern school classroom on Friday.
Students ran to waiting buses to evacuate after police say a student opened fire inside a classroom at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana around 9 a.m., reports CBS2's Alice Gainer.
"The shooting was right next to us," said middle school student Luke Daniels. "We were really scared, me and my friends ran to the corner for safety."
"The preliminary information is that a male student asked to be excused from his class, he left the classroom and then returned with two hand guns," said Chief Kevin Jowitt of the Noblesville Police Department.
One seventh-grader who didn't want to show his face says the class was taking a test when the gunshots went off.
"He took about four, five, maybe six shots - one of them hitting a girl about 10 feet from me," he said.
That's when the science teacher, who is also a football coach, ran at the shooter.
"He tackled him to the ground," the student said. "We were all hiding in the back of the classroom behind some desks then he was yelling to call 9-1-1 and to get out as fast as we can.
"He's a hero," he said. "If he didn't do anything, he probably would've continued shooting and a lot more of us would've been injured and possibly killed."
Police would not confirm that account but say the "the activity that occurred in that classroom was resolved very quickly."
Middle school students were bussed to the high school, but in an email to parents, the district said a new threat was then made at the high school.
"We piled desks in front of the door," said high school student Mackenzie Buchanan
Parents waited in line for hours to pick up their children after the all clear was given.
Witnesses say police patted down each student.
The shooter was taken into custody.
The brother of the teacher who intervened says he was shot three times and is undergoing surgery.
Tonight a female student is also in the hospital recovering.
Police say several search warrants have been obtained as they try to figure out how the student got the guns.
