One man was killed and a police officer injured at a Tennessee high school shooting on Monday afternoon.
Knoxville police confirmed that the man reportedly armed was killed in a shootout at Austin-East Magnet High School around 3.15 pm local time.
“Upon approach of the subject, shots were fired,” police said in a statement.
One man was pronounced dead at the scene while another was detained for questioning, the statement said. A video circulating online appeared to show an individual in handcuffs being led away from the school.
Police said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation would lead the probe into the shooting, while the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed special agents from their Nashville office responded to assist law enforcement.
The police officer was taken to UT Medical Centre with non-life-threatening injuries, and not other gunshot wounds were reported.
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon said she visited the officer, who was “in good spirits” and said he’d rather it be him who was shot than someone else.
The school has a recent history of gun violence among its current and former students.
Janaria Muhammad, 15, Justin Taylor, 15, and Stanley Freeman Jr, 16, were students at the school when killed in shootings that occurred away various locations away from the campus in recent months. Jamarion Gillett, 15, previously attended the school in the fall of 2020 before he was killed in a separate incident on 9 March.
This latest incident follows recent mass shootings Colorado, Atlanta and South Carolina that have led to a push by the Biden administration for gun control reforms.
Thus far there have been 130 mass shootings since the start of 2021, more than during the same period in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
