HAMILTON – A southwest Ohio school district is closed and all extracurricular activities cancelled as authorities investigate a shooting by a 14-year-old boy that injured four students, including two who were hit by gunfire.
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones in southwestern Ohio says he’s aware of a motive in Monday’s shooting at Madison Local Schools but isn’t ready to release it.
Authorities say the boy pulled out a gun in a school cafeteria and opened fire, hitting two students, and then ran from the school.
A 13-year-old girl the cafeteria when a student near her began shooting. Shelby Kinnin says she heard bangs but didn’t realize they were gunshots until she saw a boy “grabbing his leg and falling over.”
She says the lunchtime shooting Monday left some students in tears at the campus for Madison Local Schools’ junior and senior high students.
Kinnin says many people ran from the scene, and the shooter went out a door. She says she recognized him as a boy who was in a class with her last year, though she wasn’t sure of his name.
The boy threw the weapon down and was apprehended nearby with the help of a police dog, Jones said.
Two other students also were injured, possibly from shrapnel or from running away, according to Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer.
None of the injuries appear to be life-threatening.