Nashville school shooter Solomon Henderson was an intelligent, but quiet student at Antioch High School, where he was a member of the school’s ROTC program, before he opened fire on Wednesday.
The 17-year-old was described by an unidentified classmate to WKRN as a ‘smart person [at the] top of the class’ who ‘was quiet and to himself.’
He was also in the military training program, and may have had at least one ‘prior incident’ at the high school, Chief John Drake of the Metro Nashville Police Department said at a news conference – though he said he was unsure of the details.
The day on Wednesday started like any other, with Henderson arriving at the school in the Nashville suburb on a bus.
It is believed he then entered a bathroom, where he retrieved a weapon.
The teenager was then seen wearing a hoodie just after 11am, when he ‘confronted’ Josselin Corea Escalante, 16, and fired multiple rounds using a pistol, before he turned the gun on himself.
Another student was also injured with a graze wound to her arm, and was rushed to Vanderbilt University Hospital in stable condition.
Police also said a fourth boy was being treated for an injury to the face caused during the commotion, but they were not shot, Channel 5 reports.
Nashville teenager Solomon Henderson opened fire at Antioch High School on Wednesday. Students and family members are pictured fleeing from the school in the aftermath
People wait as school buses arrive at a unification site following a shooting at the Antioch High School
Metro Nashville Police Department spokesman Don Aaron said the department received its first call just two minutes after Henderson opened fire.
Two school resource officers were also inside the building, but were not in the immediate vicinity of the cafeteria, and by the time they arrived at the scene, Henderson had already killed himself.
He livestreamed the shooting online, and had written on his X page that he saved up enough money to buy a GoPro camera ‘but it was hard to explain to my parents why I needed it, so I couldn’t buy it,’ according to Raw Story.
It remains unclear whether the students were targeted, and a motive for the shooting remains unclear.
But a manifesto posted online purportedly belonging to the school shooter suggested he may have been influenced by racism at the majority black and Hispanic high school.
Chief Drake noted there were online materials that the police department is investigating.
‘There are some materials on the Internet that we’re looking at, that’s under investigation,’ he said, according to The Tennessean.
‘We believe there’s some materials out there, and maybe they were seen,’ he continued, adding that if someone ‘said something, maybe more could have been done.’
Terrifying footage showed the shooting unfold inside the cafeteria, with gunshots and screams echoing through the lunch room.
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said Henderson may have had at least one ‘prior incident’ at the school, but the specifics were unclear
Henderson was then seen wearing a hoodie when he started spraying bullets inside the school cafeteria shortly after 11am, killing Josselin Corea Escalante, 16, before he turned the gun on himself
An unidentified cameraman can be seen edging closer to the scene of the shooting then saying: ‘Oh, he shot himself.’
The edge of what appears to be a person lying down on the tiled floor is visible for a moment before the clip ends.
A student in the cafeteria at the time of the incident also described the terrifying scene.
‘People in the cafeteria they use chip bags to make it sound like a gun, but it was repeatedly going off and I turned around and I saw the shooter shooting people I knew,’ 12th grade student Ahmadsallah told WZTV.
‘The shooter was kind of covered, he had a hoodie on. It was just a rush, it made me want to do something crazy I was trying to run out there and help people, but my mind was so cluttered, I didn’t know what to do.
‘There was a lot of screaming, a lot of terror. People were scared to die, there was running like someone was chasing them, like he was a monster just killing people.
‘I feel relieved and safe but I feel bad for the victims who lost their lives,’ he added.
Chante Frye, whose daughter is in ninth grade at the school, says she got a text from the youngster to say she’d been locked down inside her classroom.
‘But it’s almost not surprising because it’s getting worse with the fights and the violence at school,’ Frye told The Tennessean.
Detectives are still investigating a possible motive for the shooting
Adrienne Battle, the superintendent of Nashville schools, said the district had already implemented a ‘range of safety measures’ including partnerships with the police for school resource officers, security cameras with weapon-detection software, shatter-resistant film for glass and security vestibules that provide a barrier between visitors and the main entrance.
‘Unfortunately, these measures were not enough to stop this tragedy,’ she lamented.
Battle also noted there were questions about installing metal detectors.
‘While past research has shown they have had limitations and unintended consequences, we will continue to explore emerging technologies and strategies to strengthen school safety.’
In the meantime, police said they will conduct tests on the gun used in the shooting, and will search Henderson’s home.
Antioch High School will also remain closed for the rest of the week.
