Armed guard disarms teen in Atlanta school shooting; Metal detectors failed to stop the attacker's entry

by Chad D. Baus

The Associated Press is reporting that a student opened fire at his middle school Thursday afternoon, wounding a 14-year-old in the neck before an armed officer working at the school was able to get the gun away.

From the article:

Multiple shots were fired in the courtyard of Price Middle School just south of downtown around 1:50 p.m. and the one boy was hit, Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said. In the aftermath, a teacher received minor cuts, he said.

The wounded boy was taken "alert, conscious and breathing" to Grady Memorial Hospital, said police spokesman Carlos Campos. He was expected to be released Thursday night.

Police swarmed the school of about 400 students after reports of the shooting while a crowd of anxious parents gathered in the streets, awaiting word on their children. Students were kept at the locked-down school for more than two hours before being dismissed.

Investigators believe the shooting was not random and that something occurred between the two students that may have led to it.

Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis said the school does have metal detectors.

"The obvious question is how did this get past a metal detector?" Davis asked about the gun. "That’s something we do not know yet."

According to the report, the armed resource officer who took the gun away was off-duty and at the school, but police didn't release details on him or whether he is regularly at Price.

The article reminds readers that since 20 children and six adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December, calls for armed officers in every school have resonated across the country. The article does not point out that the NRA was mocked by the President and members of the media for making such a suggestion.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.