A science teacher is being hailed as a hero after he tackled a student gunman and “swatted” the gun out of his hands. The male teen allegedly opened fire in an Indiana middle school classroom on Friday morning, leaving one student and one teacher injured.
“If it weren’t for him, more of us would have been injured for sure,” said seventh-grader Ethan Stonebraker, according to the Associated Press.
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He says the class was taking a test at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana when a student walked in late, pulled out a gun and started firing. Stonebraker said the teacher “immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground.”
Fox59‘s Dan Spehler shared another firsthand account from a seventh grade student who was in the Noblesville West Middle School classroom at the time of the shooting. The student said the shooter, who police say is a male student at the school, entered a science classroom and shot at someone. The science teacher then bravely swatted the gun away from the shooter, possibly saving others from getting injured.
It’s unclear if the teacher is the one injured and taken to a nearby hospital.
“I literally just spoke with a seventh-grader who was in the room where this happened. Her mom came to pick her up this morning. She confirmed what I heard from another person who lives nearby that this was in a science classroom and that a science teacher may have been the one to literally tackle this kid and swat the gun away from him,” Spehler said in a broadcast.
“That is a firsthand account…She described him as a student, and that he shot at someone in the room, and one student was injured. And that this science teacher bravely swatted that gun away from the gunman’s hands, saving everyone else in that room.”
In a media update around 11 a.m. ET, police said one student and one teacher were injured.
Police said the suspected shooter was brought into custody shortly after the shooting took place around 9 a.m.
“The school has been completely cleared and the investigation process has just begun,” Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt said.
Jowitt said a second threat that locked down Noblesville High School, where the middle school students were bused to reunite with their parents, is not believed to be related to the shooting incident.
There is “no information that this is anything other than a communicated threat,” he said. Around 11:10 a.m., police led someone in handcuffs from the high school into a police SUV, the Indy Star reports.
Police have reportedly confirmed that the families of the victims have been notified.
Footage of the students begin loaded onto buses and driven away from the scene of the tragic shooting was revealed in early news reports of the shooting.
Many have taken to social media to comment on the shooting, with Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett tweeting, “As the father of 3 kids, including a daughter in middle school, I know too well the terror every parent faces when they hear the news of yet another school shooting. We must continue to push for action that puts a stop to days like this. Indianapolis stands with Noblesville.”
Vice President Mike Pence, who was formerly the governor of Indiana, spoke about the tragedy as well.
“Karen and I are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana. To everyone in the Noblesville community – you are on our hearts and in our prayers,” he said. “Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders.”
The shooting comes one week after a student at Santa Fe High School shot and killed 10 people, injuring several others. The confessed shooter, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, was booked on capital murder charges and remains without bail on suicide watch.
