Gunman, female student dead, others wounded in shooting at Nashville high school

Two students are dead and another wounded after a 17-year-old opened fire in the cafeteria at Antioch High School in Nashville Wednesday.

According to police, the incident took place at 11:09…

Two students are dead and another wounded after a 17-year-old opened fire in the cafeteria at Antioch High School in Nashville Wednesday.

According to police, the incident took place at 11:09 a.m., when Solomon Henderson “confronted” 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante and fired multiple shots before turning the handgun on himself. Henderson and Escalante are both dead, according to police. Officials are examining “very concerning” social media posts and writings by Henderson, the Associated Press reported, and what connection, if any, existed between him and Escalante.

Also shot was a 17-year-old male who was treated and released for a graze wound to his arm, Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. A male student was also treated for a facial injury he suffered during a fall.

Parents reunified with their students at a nearby hospital, instead of picking them up at the school.

Federal ATF officials (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) also responded to the shooting, WSMV TV reported.

The school has about 2,000 students and is located about 10 miles southeast of downtown Nashville, AP reported. It will be closed the rest of the week, WSMV reported.

Dajuan Bernard, parent of a 10th grader, told AP his son “was a little startled” when he heard the gunfire but that he was upstairs from the cafeteria and wasn’t hurt. The incident may prompt changes in where their son is schooled.

“His mom wants to homeschool anyway, so I don’t know. We might consider it,” Bernard said. “This world is so crazy, it could happen anywhere. We’ve just got to protect the kids, and raise the kids right to prevent them from even doing this. That’s the hardest part.”

The school does not have stationary metal detectors although it has cameras and other safety measures, but Nashville Superintendent Adrienne Battle said new technologies and strategies would be explored to make schools safer.

The shooting comes just four months after a 16-year-old Antioch student was arrested for bringing a gun to school. According to AP, the student posted on social media about the gun, leading officials to find him with a loaded gun in his pants the next morning at school, police said.

The Music City was rocked by a shooting two years ago when 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a female who identified as a male, opened fire at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. Hale killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at the Christian school before being shot by police.

Photo credit: Metro Nashville Police, via AP