Ind. school shooting injures 2

Police have arrested suspected gunman

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. – One teenager and a teacher were injured Friday in a shooting at Noblesville West Middle School about 30 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

A male student armed with two handguns was arrested, authorities said.

The teacher, Jason Seaman, was taken to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital and the student was taken to Riley Hospital for Children, IU Health spokeswoman Danielle Sirilla said. She didn’t know the seriousness of their injuries.

Jeremy Seaman, the older brother of Jason Seaman, said the teacher was shot three times and was undergoing surgery Friday. He said his brother was conscious after the shooting and talked with his wife, telling her he was OK.

Students and parents said Friday that Seaman intervened to help stop the shooter.

Seventh-grader Ethan Stonebraker said Seaman likely prevented more injuries by confronting the shooter, who he said pulled out a handgun and opened fire while the class was taking a test.

“Our science teacher immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground,” Ethan said.

Jeremie Lovall said his daughter, a seventh-grader, was in Seaman’s classroom when the shooting started. She called her dad, who lives in Kokomo, to tell him she was OK.

“She kept saying, ‘I saw my teacher get shot,’ ” Lovall said.

Jacob Long, an eighth-grader, described a chaotic scene in his medical detectives class with students crying and teachers taking off their belts to lash doors closed.

“I didn’t cry,” he said, “but a lot of people were crying.”

Chad Lancaster, who has an eighthgrade daughter and sixth-grade son at the middle school, said he heard about the shooting from his ex-wife in a phone call. Their daughter, hiding under her desk, called her mother soon after shots were reported at 9:20 a.m. ET. She told the child to run.

Lancaster had been trying to reach his son all morning but had not heard back as of noon. “This is surreal,” Lancaster said. “This happens in high school, not here.”

Officers have a male student in custody, Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt said at a news conference. “The school has been completely cleared and the investigation process has just begun,” he said.

The shooting at the 1,350-student school happened a day before everyone was headed for a three-day Memorial Day weekend. The last day of the school year is in one week, June 1.

Adding to the confusion was a threat reported at the high school as middle school students were being evacuated. The threat prompted a lockdown at the high school, the district said.