(KNOXVILLE, Tenn.) — One person is dead and a police officer was injured during an officer-involved shooting at a high school in Knoxville, Tennessee, police reported Monday.
Knoxville Police Department officers responded to Austin-East Magnet High School in northeast Knoxville after reports of a male subject who was “possibly armed in the school,” police said.
As officers approached the subject, “shots were fired,” police said. One officer was shot at least once and was transported to the UT Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. One male was pronounced dead at the scene, and one male was detained for further investigation, according to KPD. There are no other known gunshot victims.
Several agencies, including the Nashville field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, were on the scene. The TBI will lead the investigation into the officer-involved shooting, KPD said.
The officer who was shot is in “good spirits” and said he’d “rather this happen to him than someone else,” Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon told ABC affiliate WATE-TV in Knoxville after visiting his bedside at the hospital.
Knox County Schools Superintendent Bob Thomas said in a tweet the school has been “secured” and that the students “who were not involved in the incident have been released to their families.” Authorities are still gathering more information about the “tragic situation,” he said.
Gun laws in Tennessee have been in the spotlight after Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill last week that would allow most adults 21 and older to carry handguns — either open carry or concealed carry — without a permit, background check or training.
The TBI will hold a briefing at 8 p.m. ET. Please check back for updates.
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