NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A tragic incident occurred in a high school cafeteria in Nashville on Wednesday, resulting in the death of a female student and injuries to another. According to law enforcement, the shooter, a 17-year-old student from Antioch High School, ultimately took his own life following the attack, as confirmed by Metro Nashville Police spokesperson Don Aaron during a press briefing.
The injured student sustained a minor graze wound, while another unidentified student required hospital treatment for an eye injury sustained amid the chaos. This information was provided by a representative from Vanderbilt University Medical Center to a local TV station.
At the time of the incident, two school resource officers were present in the building, but they were not nearby the cafeteria where the shooting transpired. By the time they arrived at the scene, the shooter had already ended his life with a handgun, according to Aaron.
Antioch High School, which serves approximately 2,000 students, is situated in a neighborhood about ten miles southeast of downtown Nashville. In the wake of the shooting, school officials instructed parents not to come to the school for student retrieval but to head to a nearby hospital designated as the reunification center. Students were subsequently transported there by bus as they were safely released from the school.
At the hospital, staff worked diligently to assist distressed parents in reuniting with their children. Dajuan Bernard was among those waiting anxiously at a Mapco service station for his son, a tenth grader, who was being held securely in the auditorium with other students. He received the initial news of the shooting from his son, who expressed some alarm but assured him that he was safe, despite being in an upper area of the building where the gunfire was heard.
“We might consider homeschooling,” Bernard noted, highlighting the fear influxing the community. “This world is so crazy; it could happen anywhere. We’ve just got to protect the kids and raise them right to prevent such tragedies. That’s the hardest part.”
The school shooting follows a devastating event nearly two years earlier when a gunman targeted a private elementary school in Nashville, resulting in six fatalities, including the lives of three children. This horrific tragedy spurred lengthy advocacy efforts among various community groups, families, and protestors who urged lawmakers to consider stricter gun control measures.
However, in a state that leans heavily Republican, legislative efforts to pass meaningful gun control laws faced significant resistance. With the Republican majority firmly intact after the recent elections, changes in attitudes toward gun control measures seem improbable. Instead, lawmakers have shown a greater willingness to bolster school security, as evidenced by the adoption of a bill last year permitting certain teachers and staff to carry concealed weapons on school grounds unbeknownst to parents and other faculty.
Antioch has experienced its fair share of violent incidents in recent years, including a tragic shooting in 2017 at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, which resulted in one death and multiple injuries, and a 2018 shooting at a local Waffle House that claimed four lives.
