Staff at a Kenosha, Wisconsin, school may have thwarted a potential shooting by a student, and many say they’re heroes. The unnamed 13-year-old student allegedly showed up at Roosevelt Elementary School with two bags and entered the school. The staff reportedly thought something was suspicious and stopped the boy from going further. When questioned, he allegedly fled, but police arrested him hours later.
Kenosha Unified School District Superintendent Jeff Wess said in a news conference that the staff was heroic and “prevented the unfathomable.”
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The staff reportedly acted quickly.
CNN reported that the suspect allegedly attempted to enter the building through a side entrance with two bags. Weiss said the teen appeared “nervous” when staff approached him. After he ran away, staff contacted the Kenosha Police Department. The school district contacted parents and police shared their message along with a photo of the suspect on Facebook, and asked anyone with information to help locate him.
“The suspicious person is no longer on school property and the police are actively looking for him. We understand that these incidents often cause fear and concern. Please know that KUSD and the KPD have worked together for many years to handle situations like this. We are actively looking to identify the individual depicted in the attached photo,” the Facebook message reads.
Tips began to flood in to police and school officials.
The tips helped police locate the suspect and convince him to surrender prior to his arrest, CBS News Chicago reported. The student allegedly had an internet search history that included school shooting information. Additionally, students claimed he’d made comments to others at school about school shootings. The teen also allegedly made a video holding a firearm.
Police did not disclose what they found in the suspect’s bags.
Kenosha Police Chief Patrick Paton confirmed the video showed the suspect handling a firearm and “practicing rudimentary techniques.” He did not say what was in his bags but many speculated he had weaponry.
“We know that there was internet searches, and all the red flags that we would look for and expect someone to report were there,” the chief said, per CNN. “We narrowly missed a tragedy today, and we’re just going to re-encourage everybody when they see something, say something, help us have those talks with your children. These videos … should have been reported to us earlier.”
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District officials praised school staff.
Weiss did not name who stopped the teen from entering the building but thanked them for their courage. “They did not know in the exact moment what was happening, but their actions were heroic and prevented the unfathomable,” Weiss said, according to CNN. “That today really helped avert a disaster.”
The teen is in police custody and was scheduled for a court hearing Friday morning, “charged with one count of terrorist threats,” CBS News reported.
