MOUNT HOREB, Wis. — School officials say that an active shooter was “neutralized” at a middle school west of Madison, Wisconsin, Wednesday morning, with no reported injuries to those inside the school.
The Mount Horeb Area School District said the shooter “did not breach entryway” at the middle school and there were “no reports of individuals being harmed, with the exception of the alleged assailant.”
Witnesses described hearing gunshots and seeing dozens of children running.
“There’s just a bunch of police officers that kept like knocking on the door and making sure that it was barricaded, and our (substitute teacher) that we had was by the door ready,” one witness told CBS News. “We’re all just sitting there crying and texting our parents.”
More than a dozen law enforcement vehicles were at the scene, including SWAT-style trucks with emergency lights flashing. First responders surrounding a gurney on the sidewalk also were visible.
The district reported that their initial search of the school “has not yielded additional suspects.”
The district had begun releasing some students of other schools by early afternoon and anxious parents gathered at a bus depot waiting to be reunited with their kids.
“I have been briefed on the incident at the Mount Horeb Area School District and am closely monitoring the situation,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. “I am praying for the health and safety of our kids, educators, and staff and grateful for the first responders who are working quickly to respond.”
Max Kelly, 12, said his teacher told the class to get out of the school. He said they skated to a street, ditched their in-line skates and ran to a nearby convenience store and gas station and hid in a bathroom.
Kelly was reunited with his parents and sat on a hillside with them early Wednesday afternoon waiting for his younger siblings to be released from their own schools. He still wore socks, his shoes left behind.
“I don’t think anywhere is safe anymore,” said his mother, 32-year-old Alison Kelly.
Shannon Hurd, 44, and her former husband, Nathian Hurd, 39, sat in a car waiting for their 13-year-old son, Noah, who was still in the locked-down middle school.
Shannon Hurd said she was alerted to the incident by a text from Noah saying he loved her. She said she nearly fell down the stairs at her work as she ran to get to the school.
“I just want my kid,” she said. “They’re supposed to be safe at school, in Mount Horeb of all places.”
Schools across the country have searched for ways to prevent mass shootings inside their walls, from physical security measures to drills on a response to an active shooter to technology including detailed digital maps. Many also rely on teachers and administrators working to detect early signs of mental health struggles.
Mount Horeb is about 25 miles west of Madison.
