Officials: Student is killed confronting shooter at school
Suspect injured 3 at Washington state high school.
A stuROCKFORD, WASH. — dent who opened fire in a hallway at a Washington state
high school Wednesday killed a classmate who confronted him and wounded three others before being stopped by a staff member, authorities said.
The suspect, who a classmate described as being obsessed with previous school shootings, was taken into custody. The wounded
victims were expected to survive, officials said.
The shooter brought two weapons to Freeman High School in Rockford, south of Spokane, but the first one he tried to fire jammed, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told reporters.
“He went to his next weapon,” Kzenovich said. “A student walked up to him, engaged him, and that student was shot. That student did not survive.”
The sheriff said the shooter fired more rounds down the hallway, striking the other students, before a school staffer could stop him. Kzenovich called it a courageous act that prevented further bloodshed.
Elisa Vigil, a 14-year-old freshman, said she saw one male student shot in the head and a female student wounded in the back.
Michael Harper, a 15-yearold sophomore, said the suspect had brought notes at the beginning of the school year saying he was going to do “something stupid” and
might get killed or jailed. Some students alerted coun
selors, the teen said, but it wasn’t clear what school offi- cials did in response.
A call to the school was not immediately returned.
Harper called the alleged shooter “nice and funny and weird” and said he had many friends and had not been bullied.
Students said the shooter was armed with a pistol and rifle and had carried a duf- fel bag to school. After shots were fired, students fled screaming down the hall- ways, Harper said.
Authorities didn’t release the suspect’s identity or a possible motive. The vic- tims also were not named.
Luis Prito, an assistant football coach at Freeman High, called the shooting devastating.
“This is a real close-knit community,” he said.
A two-lane road into the town of about 500 people near the Idaho border was clogged as worried parents sped to the school.
Some people abandoned their cars on the street and made their way on foot to their children.
Cheryl Moser said her son, a freshman, called her from a classroom after hearing shots fired.
“He called me and said, ‘Mom, there are gunshots.’ He sounded so scared. I’ve never heard him like that,” Moser said. “You never think about something happening
like this at a small school.” Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital received three pediatric patients, spokeswoman Nicole Stew- art said. They were in stable
condition and surrounded by family, she said.
Stephanie Lutje said she was relieved to hear her son was safe after his high school near Freeman High was put on lockdown.
S he com m en d ed the school district for its com- munication.
“It’s been amazing. Within probably 15-20 minutes of hearing about it, I’d already received a phone call, I’d already received a text message saying that their school is OK,” she said.
She still worried for oth- ers she knew, including a co-worker who had yet to hear from her son, a soph
omore at Freeman. “My stomach’s in knots right now,” she said.