WAUKESHA, Wisc. — A Waukesha South High School resource officer shot an armed student Monday after the student reportedly failed to follow officer commands.
Authorities said that a student notified administrators after hearing that a student was in possession of a handgun at school.
"The school's Resource Officer immediately responded to the classroom, the SRO made efforts to secure the classroom by getting the other students to safety," Chief Russell Jack of the Waukesha Police Department said.
Other officers responded to the classroom and began talking with the suspect in an attempt to deescalate the situation. The 17-year-old student would not remove his hands from his pocket and continued to ignore officer's commands, authorities said.
Eventually, police say the officer was forced to fire at the student when he would not remove his hands from his pocket.
The police account comes after earlier reports indicated that the student and the resource officer exchanged gunfire.
"This is an isolated incident. We are not seeking anybody else we have no other persons of interest. We are in the investigative stage right now as the scene is stabilized," police said on Twitter.
Students were dismissed for the day at 11:15 a.m., according to a statement from the school's principal.
One ninth-grader said he and his friends "thought it was just a drill."
"We thought it was just a drill at the beginning," Jackson said. "We were in there for like a whole hour."
An emotional mother described the moment she saw her son safe, "like giving birth all over again."
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This story was originally published by WTMJ in Milwaukee.
