Police killed a student who shot at them at a Tennessee high school on Monday. One policeman was wounded, reports AP.
The director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, David Rausch, said at a press conference on Monday that police found the student in a restroom at Austin East Magnet High School in Knoxville, a city about 290 miles (XNUMX kilometers) east of Nashville, after being tipped off.
She ordered him to get out, but he didn't want to comply, and then he allegedly opened fire, to which the police responded, Raus pointed out.
The student died at the school, and the police officer was wounded and taken into surgery, authorities said. No one else was hurt.
This incident occurred at a time when the local community is recovering from the violence in which three students from Austin East were killed this year, and more and more classrooms are opening for students after months of online distance learning.
The US has faced several mass murders in recent weeks, including eight victims killed in massage parlors in Atlanta on March 16 and ten people killed in a supermarket in Colorado on March 22, the AP reminds.
Speaking outside the hospital, Knoxville Mayor India Kinchannon said she had spoken to the officer wounded in the leg and that he was conscious and in good spirits.
Kinchanon, a former Knox County school board president, spoke at a February news conference about the gun violence that has killed three Austin East students this year.
Two victims were 15 and the other 16.
"I know that school is a safe place," Kinchanon said at the time.
"It's a place where students learn. ... Violence issues happen in the community and it affects kids when they're out of school. That's why we focus our efforts to protect the innocent, the school, students and staff," she noted.
Local media reported that this school hired three more officers and that patrols were increased at the time when students finish classes.
Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee mentioned the shooting at a news conference Monday, but said he had little information.
"I just wanted to address that and ask those who are watching, online or otherwise, to pray for the families and the victims as well," Lee said.
Last week, he signed a law making Tennessee the last state to allow most citizens 21 and older to carry handguns — openly or concealed — without background checks and training.
Lee supported this despite objections from law enforcement groups, who argued that the existing permit system provided important protections by determining who should and should not own guns.
Asked earlier this year if he was concerned about recent mass shootings in Georgia, Colorado and elsewhere, Lee said the increased penalties meant "we're actually going to strengthen laws that will help prevent gun crimes in the future."
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