A shootout in a Tennessee high school has left a student dead, an armed “resource officer” wounded, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation scrambling to understand exactly where all the bullets came from.
A local news station out of Knoxville, Tennesee reports that two armed officers came to question 17-year-old Anthony J. Thompson Jr. at Austin-East Magnet High School after being tipped off that he had a gun. When officers located Thompson in a school restroom, he refused to come out, so the officers went in. Original statements by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation say that Thompson then “shot at the responding officers — hitting one. Rausch said an officer returned fire, hitting the student.”
Now, however, the TBI and local news outlets have amended the original narrative to say the bullet that hit the responding officer, Adam Wilson, in the leg did not come from the teenager’s weapon. The TBI still maintains that Thompson’s gun “was fired,” it just didn’t hit anyone. Statements from the TBI are vague, perhaps purposely. There are no witness statements to confirm the information the TBI has given local media. Thompson’s girlfriend has said she has no further information about the gun or the shooting.
This is the fifth shooting death of a student at Austin-East this year and classes have been canceled as students, faculty, and families mourn.