A potential massacre was prevented Thursday in Richmond, Indiana. A school shooting was narrowly averted when someone called in a tip about a “potential violent act” at Dennis Intermediate School.
As a result, Richmond Community Schools were placed on lockdown. The schools were on lockdown when the suspect arrived carrying a pistol and a rifle. The suspect fired at a door to get inside of the locked school and then briefly exchanged gunfire with pursuing law enforcement inside before dying from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. No-one else was injured in the shooting.
Indiana State Police revealed Friday that the initial tip was phoned in by the shooter’s own mother. The suspect took another family member hostage and forced them to drive him to the school. That is what prompted the boy’s mother to initially call the police. Indiana State Police Sgt. John Bowling says it was this tip that likely saved lives.
“Mainly because someone knew something, and they said something. They warned police and police were able to respond. The school was able to follow procedures to help protect students,” said Bowling.
In the aftermath, law enforcement searched the home belonging to the suspect and seized a couple of computers along with two gun boxes. The school will remain closed at least through Monday.
This incident occurred around the 6 year anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre and on the heels of a previous school year that averaged around one school shooting per week.