gunshot (Photo : REUTERS/ANTONIO BRONIC)
A teacher at a high school in Washington was hailed a hero after tackling a student shooter on April 27, Monday. According to police, nobody was injured.
Police said teacher Brady Olson tackled the armed 16-year-old North Thurston High School student who fired gunshots from the gym floor to the cafeteria downstairs and into the ceiling.
"I think it's heroic," Lacey Police Commander Chris Ward told NBC affiliate KING 5. "People rise to the occasion when they need to do something. I think, in this case, it probably prevented worse things from happening."
By the time the Lacey Police Department was notified of the shooting, the suspected shooter had already been taken down by Olson.
A government teacher credited with keeping the North Thurston High School students and staff safe, Olson said he merely responded in a way that any other teacher would particularly at the sound of a gunshot.
In a statement posted on the school's website, Olson said, "No one, including myself, can prepare for a situation like this, so I'm very thankful that we're all okay. As always, students come first, and today was no different."
According to Olson, instead of running away, he and the five other staff members ran "toward the sound of gun fire."
After the incident, classes and after-school activities in North Thurston High School were canceled for the day. The school asked the parents to pick up students at the school's football stadium.
The shooter, whose name was undisclosed, was being interviewed by police, according to a school spokesman.
