Staff Intercepts Possible Teen Shooter at Elementary School

Cops says 13-year-old Wisconsin boy had a rifle on him when he tried to enter Kenosha school
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 8, 2024 10:13 AM CST
Staff Intercepts Possible Teen Shooter at Elementary School
Suspect in a screenshot from surveillance video.   (Kenosha Police Department, via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

A 13-year-old boy has been arrested in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after police say he went to his old elementary school armed with a rifle. Authorities say the teen, who attends a nearby middle school, showed up at Roosevelt Elementary School on Thursday morning carrying a "suspicious" bag before he was spooked by staff and ran away, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Kenosha Superintendent Jeffrey Weiss says the boy first tried to get into the school via various locked doors, then finally tried to gain access via the school's "secure entryway," which features first one door that leads into the security area, then another that leads into the school itself.

Security footage shows the teen with a large black bag, say police, per the AP. School officials say the boy never went beyond that security area, and Weiss says that once staff started questioning him, he got "nervous and fled the building," per the Journal Sentinel. He was arrested a few blocks from the school, reports WISN. Kenosha Police Chief Patrick Patton says the suspect had made videos—including one in which he appeared to practice ways to enter rooms—and talked to other students in previous weeks that hinted at a plan for a possible school shooting.

"This is something that had been told to people of his growing intentions," Patton says, also citing internet searches the boy made about school shootings as other "red flags." He adds that "we're just going to re-encourage everybody when they see something, say something, help us out. Have those talks with your children." Of the previous videos, he notes: "This should have been reported to us earlier." All schools in the Kenosha Unified School District were placed on lockdown for the rest of Thursday; schools remained open, but no one could enter or leave.

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There was no school set for Friday at the elementary school, due to a previously scheduled staff day. The boy's mother is reportedly cooperating with police. "A tragedy was averted today," Patton says, per the AP. "The only reason the individual was not able to fully enter the school was because of the quick and diligent actions of the school staff." He also praised staff for being "heroic," per the Journal Sentinel, noting their actions "prevented the unfathomable." (More Kenosha, Wisconsin stories.)

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