Science teacher reportedly subdues student shooter at Indiana school

A science teacher was being lauded as a hero for subduing a student shooter at a suburban Indianapolis middle school on Friday morning.

A boy was in custody and two victims were hospitalized after the shooting in a Noblesville West Middle School classroom.

Local media reports said the teacher who stopped the attack was one of shooting victims. The other was a 13-year-old girl.

Seventh-grader Ethan Stonebraker said the class was taking a test when the student walked in late, pulled out a gun and started firing.

“Our science teacher immediately ran at him, swatted a gun out of his hand and tackled him to the ground,” Stonebraker said. “If it weren’t for him, more of us would have been injured for sure.”

Authorities referred to a prompt and heroic response but didn’t confirm accounts of the teacher tackling the student or describe the role of the resource officer who was stationed at the school.

When asked to elaborate on his praise of response, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter said: “Wait ’til one day we can tell you that story. You’ll be proud of them, too.”

The victims were being treated at area hospitals. No further details about their condition were provided, and their identities weren’t provided.

Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt said the first call came at 9:06 a.m., and multiple local agencies responded. The school was evacuated and secured, and the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were taking part in the investigation.

“Both law-enforcement and school emergency procedures were enacted immediately. … They were working when I got here and they continued to work throughout the incident,” Jowitt said.

The suspect asked to be excused from class and then returned armed with two handguns, Jowitt said. The situation was resolved “extremely quickly,” he added.

The police chief declined to provide more specific information about what happened in the classroom while the investigation was ongoing.

Vice President Mike Pence, the former governor of Indiana, tweeted about the incident.

Karen and I are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana. To everyone in the Noblesville community – you are on our hearts and in our prayers. Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders.

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) May 25, 2018

Noblesville, which is about 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis, is home to about 50,000 people. The middle school has about 1,300 students in grades 6-8. The school’s academic year was scheduled to end next Friday.

After the attack, students were bused to the Noblesville High School gym, where their families could retrieve them.

Erica Higgins, who was among the worried parents who rushed to get their kids, told WTHR-TV that she learned of the shooting from a relative who called her at home.

“I just want to get my arms around my boy,” she said.

Higgins said her son was shaken up but knew little about what happened.

“I got a ‘Mom, I’m scared’ text message and other than that, it was ‘come get me at the high school,'” Higgins said.

Thirteen-year-old Chris Navarro says he was in an auditorium at the middle school when he heard the shots about a minute before the bell rang for the change in classes. He says a lockdown was immediately announced over the school’s speaker. He rushed into a small room with three other people to hide.

The attack came a week after an attack at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, that killed eight students and two teachers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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