Witnesses to deadly shooting at Ohio school describe chaos
CHARDON, Ohio – A gunman opened fire inside a high school cafeteria on Monday, killing one student and wounding four others, authorities said.
The suspect, believed to be a student, was taken into custody near his car a half-mile from the suburban Cleveland school, the FBI said.
FBI agent Scott Wilson would not comment on a possible motive for the attack.
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The victim has been identified by the MetroHealth Medical Center as Daniel Parmentor, according to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.
"We are shocked by this senseless tragedy," his parents said in a prepared statement, according to the newspaper. "Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss."
Panicked students screamed and ran through the halls when gunfire broke out at the start of the school day at 1,100-student Chardon High School.
Heather Ziska, 17, said she was in the cafeteria when she and other students heard popping noises in the hall. She said she saw a boy she recognized as a fellow student come into the cafeteria and start shooting.
She said she and several others immediately ran outside, while other friends ran into a middle school and others locked themselves in a teachers' lounge.
"Everybody just started running," said 17-year-old Megan Hennessy, who was in class when she heard loud noises. "Everyone was running and screaming down the hallway."
Five students were taken to local hospitals, officials said. One student later died, Police Chief Timothy McKenna said. The suspect is a juvenile who was not immediately charged. His name was not released.
Sheriff Daniel McClelland said the shooter had already fled when officers arrived at the school.
Early Monday afternoon a team of federal agents searched a complex of luxury homes on a lake on a rural road in Chardon. They searched a barn on the property and gathered on the porch of a large home overlooking the lake.
Agents were from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Sheriff Daniel McClelland said the shooter had already fled when officers arrived at the school.
Freshman Danny Komertz, 15, said he was just about to leave for his first-period health class when he heard a loud popping sound and then saw the shooter open fire.
He said one student who authorities say was killed was trying to get under a table to protect himself and shield his face.
Komertz said the shooter was known as an outcast who had apparently been bullied. He said there were at least 100 students in the cafeteria at the time and that most fled immediately as shots were fired.
ThePlain Dealer interviewed high school junior Nate Mueller who said he was hit in the right ear. Mueller identified the shooter by name but USA TODAY and other news organizations are withholding publication because he is a juvenile and no formal charges had been filed.
Mueller said he and his friends, including Russell King, Nick Walczak and Demetrius Hewlin, were sitting at their regular cafeteria table when the shooter approached at about 7:30 a.m.
He said he heard a gunshot behind him. He turned and felt a sting on his ear.
"My friends were crawling on the floor, and one of my friends was bent over the table, and he was shot," Mueller said. "It was almost like a firecracker went off. I turned around and saw him (the shooter) standing with a gun and I saw him take a shot."
Mueller, who has a scratch on his upper right ear, said he ran out of the building, hid behind a car and called 911.
He said his group was friends with the shooter through middle school, but in high school the shooter went his separate way.
Russell, he said, had recently started dating the shooter's ex-girlfriend, who is home schooled.
"He was silent the whole time," said Mueller, who at the time of the shooting was waiting for a bus to his culinary arts classes at Auburn Career Center. "That's what made it so random."
Mueller told the newspaper that the shooter typically waits for a bus that goes to Lake Academy, a school in Willoughby serving at-risk students.
Hundreds of parents who were notified of the shooting via a phone alert system rushed to the school Monday morning. Police, FBI SWAT team members, ambulances and other officials were on the scene.
Students still inside the high school were moved to a nearby elementary school for safety. They were released to their parents five at a time.
Parent Teresa Hunt told CNN she got a text from her daughter around 7:45 a.m. that the school was in a lockdown situation. Her daughter, who was not identified, said she heard five shots down the hallway near the cafeteria.
Her daughter said she was locked in a classroom.
"I believe she was sitting on the floor with another friend," Hunt said. "The last time I talked to her, she was crying, she was trembling."
All Chardon schools, from K-12, will be closed on Tuesday, according to local station WKYC-TV.
The Rev. Peter McCurdy of the First Baptist Church of Painesville, Ohio, 20 minutes north of Chardon, said there will be a prayer vigil Monday night at the church. He said he expects between 200 and 400 people.
"Chardon is one of those small communities. Everybody knows everybody," said McCurdy, adding he was a victim of a shooting when he was a child. "I don't know how to judge (the situation). God just said open up the Church, so I did."
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