The armed student who was shot dead this week before he could charge into a Wisconsin middle school pointed his pellet gun at police, prosecutors said Saturday.
According to the state Department of Justice, the unnamed student was carrying a Ruger .177 caliber pellet rifle outside Mount Horeb Middle School Wednesday.
“Officers directed the subject to drop the weapon, but the subject did not comply,” the department said in a release.
“The subject pointed the weapon at the officers, after which law enforcement discharged their firearms, striking the subject. Lifesaving measures were deployed but the subject died on scene.”
No one else was injured. The Mount Horeb police officers who were involved were put on administrative leave as per agency policy.
The prosecutor’s Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting.
Police rushed to the middle school around 11:15 a.m. after a 911 caller spotted a suspicious figure walking toward the building with a long gun, prosecutors said.
Authorities have not named the gunman, only identifying him as a juvenile male.
The would-be shooter never made it inside the school, but the terrifying incident sent the young students fleeing for their lives — including some who escaped on in-line skates.
Terrified parents said that their children hid in closets, scared to take out their phones to call or text.
One middle schooler, 12-year-old Max Kelly, said his class was in the school gym practicing in-line skating when they heard gunshots.
When his teacher told the class to get out of the school they skated to a street, ditched the skates and ran to a convenience store and gas station where they hid in a bathroom.
Mount Horeb, which is about 25 miles west of the state capital Madison, is home to around 7,600 people and the central office of outerwear retailer Duluth Trading Company.