A man was fatally shot by police outside an Alabama elementary school on Thursday (June 9).
Gadsden City School Superintendent Tony Reddick said that at least 34 students were inside Walnut Park Elementary School participating in a summer program when the man tried to gain entry.
Reddick explained that the school district has a practice of locking all exterior and interior doors, which helped keep the potential intruder out.
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Reddick told CNN: "He tried to open at least two doors leading into the school. This is Gadsden. A small-knit community. You don't think that something like this is going to happen at your school."
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) said that a resource officer employed by the Rainbow City Police Department confronted the man after he tried to make a forcible entry into marked patrol car.
The agency wrote a the statement: "The subject resisted and attempted to take the officer’s firearm. Additional officers from the Gadsden Police Department responded to the scene to provide assistance.
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"The subject was injured by gunfire and was pronounced deceased."
Etowah County Sheriff Jonathan Horton praised both the school as well as the officer for their work and confirmed no children in the school were hurt during a news conference on Thursday.
Horton shared: "Our schools, especially after... what's happened in Texas, we have one of the largest school resource officers’ programs in Etowah County, preaching that these doors stay locked.
“That the individual was not able to make it inside the school.
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"From the school resource officer's standpoint, he did exactly what should be done. He went straight to the threat, he confronted it and he dealt with it.
“It ended in, unfortunately, the death of the suspect, but that's the safest alternative. To keep that threat out of that school."
Horton confirmed that the school resource officer was transported to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries he sustained during the altercation. It is not known if the suspect was armed.
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The incident comes just over two weeks after 19 children and two teachers were killed, and a further 17 were injured at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
Last month, Salvador Ramos opened fire at the Texas school before being shot dead by police – who found 1,657 rounds of ammunition in his possession.
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Topics: US News
Lisa McLoughlin