RICHMOND, IND. - — The shooter’s mother tipped off police that her 14-year-old son was headed to a Richmond middle school with a gun Thursday, preventing a possible slaughter, Indiana State Police said Friday.
Also Friday, the Wayne County Coroner’s Office named Brandon Clegg, who lived about a mile from Dennis Intermediate School, as the teen who killed himself after a shootout with police inside the school. Death was caused by a single self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to preliminary autopsy results. There was no indication of any other gunshot wounds or trauma.
Clegg's mother, identified as 42-year-old Mary York, called Wayne County 911 at 8:11 a.m. after the teen had taken another family member hostage and forced that person to drive him to the school, ISP said. Clegg was not enrolled at Dennis Intermediate School or any school as of this week.
Because of the tip, officials were able to lock down the school and police got there just as Clegg did. The 14-year-old gunman shot out the glass in a door and entered the school hallway, but he wasn’t able to advance beyond the second-floor stairwell.
Police trapped him there and that’s when he shot himself, officials said. No one else was hurt.
"If that person hadn't made that call, we'd be having a much different conversation right now," an Indiana State Police Supt. Doug Carter said at Thursday afternoon news conference outside the school.
"It is important to emphasize that due to the result of advance notification of the potential for a violent act at the school, the school was able to initiate their lockdown procedure yesterday and police were able to have a rapid response, which undoubtedly prevented injury to students and faculty," ISP said in a statement Friday.
Police said the 911 tape would not be released due to the investigation.
The district closed the school for Friday and Monday.
Richmond is 66 miles northwest of Cincinnati.
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