Investigators are still sorting out what happened to spark a shooting outside a Gadsden elementary school Thursday morning that left one person dead.
The incident happened at about 9:30 a.m. outside Walnut Park Elementary School where a summer literacy camp for elementary-age children was taking place. Gadsden City School Superintendent Tony Reddick said 34 children were in the school at the time of the incident.
Etowah County Sheriff Jonathan Horton said a resident called Attalla police reporting a suspicious man outside the school.
Related: Man shot to death by police outside Gadsden school had ‘serious mental issues,’ brother says
According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the man attempted to enter a marked Rainbow City patrol vehicle used by the school resource officer.
Reddick said the man was trying to get into vehicles and “aggressively” tried to open several door ways to the school, which went into lockdown, following protocols.
The Rainbow City officer attempted to stop the man, according to ALEA. After a conversation, the man resisted and attempted to take the officer’s firearm.
Other officers from Gadsden police responded to the scene. The man was shot and killed in front of the school.
Officials have not said if the man was armed. He was later identified as Robert Tyler White, 32, of Bunnlevel, N.C.
A Rainbow City police officer suffered minor injuries in the scuffle. The school is located in the Walnut Park section of Gadsden near the old Republic Steel plant. Within minutes, dozens of officers from several different agencies were on the scene.
As of 10:30 a.m., the man’s body remained in front of the school under a white sheet near the bicycle racks, not far from the front entrance.
All children in the school at the time of the incident had been safely picked up from Gadsden City High School within 20 minutes of being taken from the school. Reddick said most of the children and instructors did not know what had happened when they were transported.
“We’re just so thankful that none of this involved the children,” Reddick said. “Everyone followed the safety protocols that we’ve drilled on.”
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s State Bureau of Investigation will lead the probe. Its findings will be turned over to the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office.
“At the end of the day, the good news is no one made it into the building, and the kids were safe,” Horton said. SOURCE: al
