A SHOOTING outside an elementary school has reportedly left one suspect dead and a police officer hurt.
The shooting happened outside Walnut Park Elementary School in Gadsden, Alabama, on Thursday morning.
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Officials were responding to reports of a suspicious person outside the school.
A Rainbow City police officer working as a school resource officer responded and got into an altercation with the suspect, Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton said.
Officers responded to the scene and exchanged gunfire with the suspect.
The unidentified suspect was killed, and the Rainbow City officer suffered minor injuries.
Officials said a summer program for elementary-age children was taking place inside the school at the time of the shooting.
The sheriff’s office assured all children inside the school are safe.
Police have yet to reveal what sparked the initial altercation or if the suspect was in possession of a weapon,
UVALDE TRAGEDY
The terrifying comes weels after the deadly massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24.
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Twenty-one victims, including 19 students, were killed during the massacre after teen gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, barricaded himself inside a fourth-grade classroom and opened fire.
Fourth-grade teachers Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles were among those that perished in the shooting.
A fourth-grader shared how he survived the school shooting – by hiding when the gunman stormed in and said: “It’s time to die.”
The student said he and several of his friends escaped by running under a table with a tablecloth as cover.
“When I heard the shooting through the door, I told my friend to hide under something so he won’t find us,” the boy told KENS 5.
“I was hiding hard. And I was telling my friend to not talk because he is going to hear us.”
The boy also shared that when cops showed up and asked those who needed help to yell, a student complied and was then shot by Ramos.
“One of the persons in my class said ‘help.’ The guy overheard, and he came in and shot her,” he said.
Once the shooting stopped, he came out from under the table.
“I just put my hand out,” he added.
“I got out with my friend. I knew it was the police. I saw the armor and the shield.”
The boy said that his teachers, Irma and Eva, tried to save their students.
“They were nice teachers,” he shared. “They went in front of my classmates to help. To save them.”
Fellow survivor Chance Aguirre, nine, told NBC News he and other students hid in the cafeteria when shots began to be fired.
The 19 children have been identified by loved ones as Amerie Jo Garza, Xavier Lopez, Uziyah Garcia, Makenna Lee Elrod, Ellie Garcia, Eliahana ‘Elijah Cruz’ Torres, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, Tess Marie Mata, Lexi Rubio, Nevaeh Bravo, Rojelio Torres, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, Jailah Nicole Silguero, Miranda Mathis, Jose Flores, Maite Yuleana, Jackie Cazares, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio and Alithia Ramirez.
