A shooting at Antioch High School on Tuesday left two people dead, including the suspected shooter, and one student injured, police said.
The incident comes nearly two years after a deadly shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, where three children and three adults were killed.
Metro Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron confirmed the shooter was a 17-year-old male student. The teen opened fire in the school cafeteria with a pistol around 11:09 a.m. Police received the first 911 call at 11:11 a.m.
According to Aaron, the shooter fatally shot a female student before turning the gun on himself. A third student, a female, sustained a grazing wound but is expected to recover.
Two school resource officers were on campus at the time of the shooting but were not in the cafeteria and could not intervene before the shooter took his own life, Aaron said.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee expressed his condolences to the victims and their families.
“I’ve been briefed on the incident at Antioch High School and am grateful for law enforcement and first responders who responded quickly and continue to investigate,” Lee said in a statement. “As we await more information, I join Tennesseans in praying for the victims, their families, and the school community.”
Chante Frye, whose daughter is a ninth grader at the school, said she received a text message from her daughter after gunshots were heard. Her daughter informed her that the school was under lockdown.
“It was terrifying,” Frye said. “But it’s almost not surprising because it’s getting worse with the fights and the violence at school.”
Frye spoke near Ascension Saint Thomas Antioch hospital, which served as the reunification site for students and parents.
Metro Schools announced that parents can contact their students by calling the reunification hotline at 615-401-1712.
