Teen boy critically injured in high school shooting
A teenage boy is critically injured after a shooting erupted at a high school in Omaha, Nebraska.
The shooting broke out at Omaha Northwest High School during lunchtime, shortly before 12.30pm on Tuesday.
Cops from several agencies found the 15-year-old victim inside the school and he was rushed to a nearby hospital, according to Omaha Police Deputy Chief Sherie Thomas.
A suspect was arrested a half hour later three blocks from the scene by 80th Street and Bauman Avenue.
It appeared to be an isolated shooting between the suspect and the victim, Thomas said.
The identities of the victim and suspect were not immediately released.
Students began being released to their parents after 1pm and a reunification site was set up at the football stadium on campus.
A dad, Devon DeMott, said his son texted him that a shooting had occurred and that he rushed there from their home a few blocks away to find a large police presence.
‘As fatherly instinct, I jumped in the car and headed up there,’ DeMott told the Omaha World-Herald.
Shortly after 2pm, the Omaha Police Department stated on X (formerly Twitter) that the ‘school is secure’.
‘An individual believed to be the suspect in the shooting has been taken into custody,’ wrote the police department.
‘Police will remain in the area for follow up to the investigation and for reunification with parents.’
The agency added that there was no threat to the community.
Nearby Marian High School and Roncalli Catholic High School were also put on lockdown.
Congressman Don Bacon thanked first responders who ‘swiftly tended to the victim’s needs and apprehended the suspect’.
‘We are saddened and angered about the shooting at Omaha Northwest High School and pray for the student’s recovery,’ he said.
‘At this time, it is premature to say what actions should be taken as we don’t know how the suspect obtained the weapon, where it happened, etc.’
Governor Jim Pillen and his wife, Suzanne, commended school officials for responding ‘in an appropriate way’.
‘We know this was traumatic for everyone at the school and the parents of students at Northwest,’ they stated.
The shooting happened six days after a mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, left two students and two teachers dead and nine others injured.
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