A 17-year-old boy opened fire with a handgun in a Nashville high school cafeteria on Wednesday, killing a female student and wounding another before killing himself, police said.
Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said the injured student was grazed in the arm by a bullet at Antioch High School, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Nashville, and was being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A male student was also treated for a facial injury that Aaron said was not the result of the gunshot.
Aaron said the gunman fired multiple shots in the school cafeteria just after 11 a.m., and an emergency call came in two minutes after the first shot. He did not provide any other details about the shooter or the victims. Officials said they did not know a motive for the shooting.
A student who identified himself as Ahmed told Nashville television station WSMV that he was in the cafeteria when gunfire erupted. He and his friends hid behind trash cans before heading to the football field as they passed victims who had been shot and bleeding on the ground.
“I wish I could save them,” he said. “I feel so pained, sad and frustrated because I know there’s nothing I can do to help them, just to see them gunned down in front of me.”
Nashville Metropolitan Public Schools said the high school was placed on lockdown around noon local time. Officials set up a reunion area for parents.
“I join the people of Tennessee in praying for the victims, their families and the school community,” said Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who posted on social media that he had been informed of the incident.
In Nashville, there is still lingering trauma from the 2023 Covenant School shooting, the deadliest school shooting in state history. A former student broke into the grounds of a private school and killed three nine-year-old pupils and three staff members before police shot and killed the attacker.
But even as thousands of protesters filled the halls of the state Capitol, joining some parents of surviving students in calling for stricter gun laws, the overwhelming majority of Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly remained unwilling to change the law.
“Schools should be safe spaces where children can learn and grow without fear of violence,” Tennessee Voices for Safety said in a statement. Pushing for gun restrictions.
In 2024, lawmakers approved a bill allowing teachers to carry concealed handguns over the objections of parents and many Nashville Democrats.
There has been support for more school resource officers: Metro Council voted in December to approve $3.9 million in funding, even though staffing shortages have prevented many schools from recruiting officers. Police spokesman Aaron said two student resource officers were on campus when shots were fired but were not near where the shooting occurred. By the time they arrived, filming had already ended.
State Sen. Charlane Oliver, who represents the district where Antioch High School is located, said in a statement that she was “heartbroken by this devastating shooting.”
“As a mother and representative of this community, my heart goes out to the families, students and staff who are experiencing this unimaginable tragedy,” she said. “No child should feel unsafe in school, and no family should No one should have to face the pain of this senseless loss.”
