Police say a 17-year-old student in the southern city of Nashville opened fire in a high school cafeteria, killing one person and wounding two others.
Law enforcement authorities in Nashville, Tennessee, said a 17-year-old suspect fatally shot a female high school student before killing himself.
The shooting that occurred on Wednesday at Antioch High School in the southern United States resulted in two other people being injured.
“I have been made aware of the incident at Antioch High School and am grateful to law enforcement and first responders who responded quickly and continue to investigate,” Gov. Bill Lee said in a social media post. mail. “As we await more information, I join Tennesseans in praying for the victims, their families, and the school community.”
Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) spokesman Don Aaron said during a press conference that those injured were receiving treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
BREAKING: A shooting is under investigation at Antioch High School. Three people were injured, including the suspect who shot himself. The reunion location for parents is 3754 M’boro Pk. Buses will transport students there. pic.twitter.com/G5UypO7neP
– Metro Nashville PD (MNPDNashville) January 22, 2025
Parents were asked not to come to the school, which is located about 16 kilometers (10 miles) southeast of downtown Nashville. Instead, they were advised to bring their loved ones from a nearby medical facility.
Gun violence remains rampant in the United States, with school shootings being an ongoing example.
A database maintained by The Washington Post indicates that as of December, there had been 426 school shootings in the United States since 1999, when two teenage gunmen opened fire at Columbine High School in Colorado.
They killed 15 people, including themselves, in what was the deadliest school shooting to that point.
Other high-profile school shootings have unfolded in the quarter-century since then, including the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 children and six staff members.
The movement said that Wednesday’s attack began at 11:09 am (17:09 GMT). The suspect fired several shots into the school cafeteria before shooting himself in the head. In addition to the teenage girl killed in the attack, a student was injured and another was injured in his arm.
Two school resource officers were on the scene but were in a different part of the building when the shooting began, said Aaron, the police spokesman. By the time they reached the area, the shooting had ended and the suspected attacker was dead.
In a statement afterward, President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the families of the victims and survivors.
“The president and his team are following the news from Nashville,” the statement said. “As details emerge, the White House offers its heartfelt thoughts and prayers to those affected by this senseless tragedy, and thanks the brave first responders who responded to the incident.”
This is not the first time in recent years that the Nashville area has suffered such a tragedy.
In March 2023, an attacker killed three children, all nine years old, and three adults at a private Christian elementary school called Covenant School.
In response, the Tennessee legislature passed a bill allowing some teachers and staff to carry concealed weapons on public school campuses, though critics have questioned the measure’s effectiveness, in the face of loosened gun restrictions in the state.