A 14-year-old middle school student in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, was shot to death by police after trying to break through a school window with a long gun.
Madison365 reports that an eighth-grade student at Mount Horeb Middle School saw a classmate attempting to break through a window to the cafeteria during lunch time, around 11:15 am Wednesday, using the butt of a long gun.
When he was unable to break through the window, he began shooting at the window, the student said. Another student said he heard about 12 gunshots in total.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that in the subsequent confrontation with Mount Horeb police, the armed student was fatally shot.
The student shot to death has been identified as Damian Haglund, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Mount Horeb is about 25 miles west of Madison.
Mount Horeb Superintendent Steve Salerno said students "saw something" as the teen approached the school and alerted school staff.
"Those students were able to communicate immediately as to what they had seen, and staff was able to take decisive action quickly," he said.
No other students, teachers or police officers were injured.
Salerno said more violence likely was prevented thanks to investments in school safety such as vestibules and locked front doors.
"This could have been a far worse tragedy," Salerno said.
The assailant posted cryptic messages to Snapchat earlier Wednesday, with the phrases “Break free from the chains of slavery, cheers to the blood” in Finnish and “My dad is a war criminal” in Bosnian.
Authorities did not reveal any specific motive believed to be behind the attempted attack.
