A man reportedly displaying aggressive behavior was shot and killed outside of an Alabama elementary school on Thursday.
The shooting took place outside of Walnut Park Elementary School in the town of Gadsden.
Gadsden City Schools Superintendent Tony Reddick told WBMA-TV in Birmingham that the man killed in the shooting was “aggressively” attempting to enter the school before he was shot.
The school principal ordered a lockdown of the school in response to the man’s behavior.
One school resource officer initially made contact with the man, and a second law enforcement officer arrived after the on-scene officer called for police backup.
The suspect was shot and killed after the second officer arrived, according to the report.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said the man had tried to enter a police squad car before he was shot, WBMA reported.
When officers sought to prevent him from accessing the vehicle, he resisted arrest and was shot and killed after reaching for an officer’s firearm, according to authorities.
The school resource officer who first engaged the man was taken to an area hospital with light injuries after the shooting, Etowah County Sheriff Jonathan Horton told reporters.
Did the officers do the right thing in this case?
The shooting didn’t result in any other casualties. All the 34 students on-scene at the school were unharmed, and law enforcement requested that the local public avoid the area.
The students were evacuated from the building through a side parking lot, and authorities directed parents to pick up their children at a local high school.
The town school superintendent underscored the seriousness of the situation, in wake of the recent mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
“It’s the kind of call you don’t want to get,” Reddick said, according to WBMA.
“You definitely have concerns about something potentially traumatic that happens,” he said.
The police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting was heavily criticized.
On on-scene commander directed his officers to wait instead of immediately rushing the gunman inside the school.
The shooter was only finally neutralized when off-duty Border Patrol agents disregarded the wishes of local law enforcement and breached the school of their own volition.
