Americas

Americas

Chardon High School Shooting: One Dead, Four Injured

27 February 2012 20:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. One student has died following a shooting this morning at Chardon High School in Ohio. Four others were injured and the shooter is in custody, APA reports quoting ABC.

"There is one deceased student," Chardon Police Chief Tim McKenna said at a news conference. "That’s the sad news for all of us today."

Police will not yet identify the gunman, saying only that he has not yet been charged and that he is a juvenile.

The gunman opened fire with a handgun just before 8 a.m. in the school cafeteria where students were eating breakfast, authorities and witnesses said.

The shooter was chased out of the building by a teacher and later turned himself in to a passerby, authorities said. Police have not yet confirmed whether the gunman was a student at the school, but junior Heather Ziska told the Associated Press she just a few feet away when he opened fire and she recognized the shooter as a fellow student.

The suspect is in custody at Geauga County Safety Center, according to ABC News’ Cleveland affiliate WEWS.

"Our prayers go out to the five victims and their families," a choked up School Superintendent Jospeh Bergant said at news conference. "It’s a horrible tragedy."

Geauga County Sheriff Daniel McClelland praised the reaction to the shooting.

"A prompt entry was made into the school. They went into the school and located the victims. It became readily apparent that the shooter had fled already," McClelland said. "The individual was apprehended some distance from the school and had fled on foot."

The officer said police created a security perimeter to make sure the gunman could not return and a search, including a K-9 unit, was launched for the suspect.

Two students were taken by ambulance to Hillcrest Hospital and three were taken by helicopter to MetroHealth Hospital, according to WEWS.

Parent Teresa Hunt told WEWS that she was texting with her daughter during the lockdown and her daughter said she heard five shots fired in the cafeteria about 7:30 a.m. Her daughter texted that students were scared and that four people had been shot.

Chardon student Evan Erasmus told WEWS that a student had tweeted that he was going to bring a gun to school, but that no one took him seriously.

The Chardon Fire Department was called to the school at about 7:45 a.m. in response to a report of "several people shot," according to Inspector William Crowley of the Chardon Fire Department.

Multiple law enforcement agencies, including a SWAT team, rushed to the school.

The superintendent immediately canceled classes at all schools in the district. Students who were still on school buses were being dropped back off at their homes and parents were called to pick up their children that were already at school.

The Chardon School District sent a voicemail to parents that schools are closed and high school students are being moved to the middle school, according to WEWS.

Parents received the following message:

"As of 9:00 AM the alleged sole CHS gunman is in custody and Chardon High School students are being moved by safety forces to Maple Elementary. Parents or legal guardians can pick up their students up any time. Chardon Middle School students are also being released to parents."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich tweeted around 9:30 a.m., "Pls pray for wounded Chardon HS students, their families, and their community; appears things under control now."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has eight agents on their way to the scene and they are expected to trace the firearm.

Chardon is a village in Geauga County, about 35 miles east of Cleveland, Ohio.