Student in custody after shooting at Milwaukee-area high school

WAUKESHA, Wis. - An officer shot an armed male student Monday morning in a classroom at a suburban Milwaukee high school after the suspect pointed a gun at officers, a police chief said.

A Waukesha South High School student informed a school resource officer that a classmate had a handgun around 10:17 a.m., Waukesha Police Chief Russell Jack said. He said the resource officer went to the classroom to confront the 17-year-old suspect and move other students in the room to safety.

Waukesha police and sheriff’s deputies soon arrived at the school and tried to de-escalate the situation to no avail.

“The suspect would not remove his hands from his pocket and continued to ignore officers’ commands,” Jack said. “The suspect removed his handgun from his waistband and pointed it at the officers. An officer was forced to discharge his firearm, striking the suspect.”

No officers or other students were injured, Jack said.

He said officers performed life-saving measures on the suspect, who is in custody and in stable condition. The officer who shot the student is an 11-year-veteran of the police department, Jack said.

Terry Schuster, the public relations director for the Waukesha School District, said she understood it was the school resource officer who shot the student. Police said the shooting was an isolated incident and that they are not seeking any other suspects.

Students who streamed out of the school about 11:15 a.m. said a drill was announced and they took cover under desks and teachers barricaded doors. They told reporters outside the school that they knew it wasn’t a drill when they heard two or three gunshots.

Parents gathered outside and hugged students as they streamed out of the school in Waukesha, about 18 miles west of Milwaukee.