Investigators say student killed by police outside Wisconsin school had pointed pellet rifle
Law enforcement personnel respond to a report of a person armed with a rifle at Mount Horeb Middle School in Mount Horeb, Wis., Wednesday, May 1, 2024. The school district said a person it described as an active shooter was outside a middle school in Mount Horeb on Wednesday but the threat was “neutralized” and no one inside the building was injured. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)
MOUNT HOREB, Wis. (AP) — A student who was killed by police outside a Wisconsin school pointed a pellet rifle at officers and had refused to drop the weapon, authorities said Saturday.
The state Department of Justice released few other details, three days after the shooting at Mount Horeb Middle School in Mount Horeb, 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Madison, the Wisconsin capital.
The student, whose name and age still have not been officially released, did not get into the school. No one else was physically injured, but the school was on lockdown for hours during the incident Wednesday.
People wait for their children outside the Mount Horeb School District bus station in Mount Horeb, Wis., where students were taken after an active shooter situation at the middle school, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Authorities said without giving details that the “alleged assailant” was harmed, and a witness said she had heard gunshots and saw dozens of children running. (AP Photo/Todd Richmond)
Police were called around 11 a.m. that day after a caller said someone with a backpack and long gun was moving toward the school.
“Officers directed the subject to drop the weapon, but the subject did not comply,” the Department of Justice said Saturday. “The subject pointed the weapon at the officers, after which law enforcement discharged their firearms, striking the subject. Lifesaving measures were deployed but the subject died on scene.”
People gather at a site designated for parent and student reunifications following a report of a armed person outside Mount Horeb Middle School in Mount Horeb, Wis., Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)
The weapon was described as a Ruger .177-caliber pellet rifle. The state said police at the scene were wearing body cameras.
Schools in the Mount Horeb district did not hold classes Thursday or Friday.
Shooter Wisconsin School
Law enforcement personnel respond to a report of a person armed with a rifle at Mount Horeb Middle School in Mount Horeb, Wis., Wednesday, May 1, 2024. The school district said a person it described as an active shooter was outside a middle school in Mount Horeb on Wednesday but the threat was “neutralized” and no one inside the building was injured. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)