Another Day, Another School Shooting. Seventh Grader at Ohio Middle School Shoots Himself

An Ohio seventh-grader who brought a gun to school and shot himself inside a restroom just before classes began on Tuesday also had a device in his backpack meant to cause a distraction, police said.

Jackson Township Police Chief Mark Brink said the device found in the student’s backpack was not an explosive that “would have caused harm to others,” but said it could have produced smoke or a loud bang. Brink described the weapon as .22-caliber rifle and said investigators were unsure how the student brought the gun into the school undetected.

The student, who suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was being treated at the hospital but his condition is unknown.

No other students were hurt in the shooting at Jackson Middle School.

It was not immediately clear whether the shooting was intentional or how the boy, who rode the bus to school, managed to sneak the .22-caliber long gun into the building, said Jackson Township Police Chief Mark Brink.

Authorities said they also did not know where the boy got the gun or if anyone else was involved.

Bomb-sniffing dogs searched the building, investigators said.

“They wouldn’t tell us what was going on. I thought there was a school shooting. There was a lot of waiting,” eighth-grader Alex Garcia told The Independent. “I didn’t have any idea there was someone with a gun until I was released.”