SandyMaloneJackson Township, OH – Parents of students at Jackson Memorial Middle School rushed to pick up their children as soon as word got out about a 7th grade student shooting himself in a school bathroom on Tuesday morning.
The incident occurred at about 7:50 a.m., and the student was transported to the hospital. His condition was not known, according to the Canton Repository.
Authorities and school officials have said they don’t know whether the student was alone at the time of the shooting, KTVU reported. No one else was hurt.
School Superintendent Chris DiLoreto sent an alert out to parents about the shooting, and hundreds of parents have arrived at the school to pick up their students, the Canton Repository reported. Students were being released alphabetically according to their grade.
Investigators said they did not know if the shooting was intentional, and have not released any other details.
The district’s middle school and high school were put into lockdown as a precaution, and all extracurricular activities were cancelled, the New York Daily News reported.
The middle school and high school were being dismissed. Four additional elementary schools were closed.
Police said they do not know how the student got a gun into the school.
“We’ve got to look into how that happened and from that put a plan together and make sure we have a presence here especially going forward,” Jackson Police Chief Mark Brink said during a media availability on Tuesday morning.
He said all the other students were safe, and there was no ongoing threat.
The mother of an 8th grader said she noticed the chaos at the school as she went to take her other daughter to elementary school.
“I received a phone call from the superintendent that the middle school and high school was on lockdown and all the elementary schools would be closed. I just pulled in waiting to hear further information,” Gina Larkins told WEWS.
The Jackson police chief said his department was being assisted in the investigation by the Stark County Sheriff’s Office, the Ohio State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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