Memphis police on Monday said officers shot a suspect after he attempted to enter a Jewish school with a gun and fired shots after he couldn’t get into the building.
Assistant Police Chief Don Crowe said the suspect, whose identity has not been released, approached Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South around 12:20 p.m. He fired several shots and then left in a maroon truck.
“Thankfully, that school had a great safety procedure and process in place and avoided anyone being harmed or injured at that scene,” Crowe said.
Officers soon found the suspect’s vehicle “shortly after that,” Crowe said, adding that officers then shot the suspect after he exited the truck with a firearm in hand. The suspect was sent to a hospital, where he is in critical condition.
It was not immediately clear if school was in session.
When asked if law enforcement believe the shooting was a hate crime, Crowe said officers were still on the scene and collecting information.
“It’s way too early for that. Again, we’re very early in this investigation,” Crowe said.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations is now handling the case.
Oscar Gomez said two of his teenage children were outside their house when the man was shot in their neighborhood. They told him about the shooting when he arrived home from work, he said.
“They heard the shooting, and they threw themselves on the floor trying to protect themselves,” said Gomez, 39.
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, whose district includes Memphis, said in a statement that he was “shocked” to hear about the incident at the school and noted that acts of “violent antisemitism” are on the rise across the country.
Monday’s shooting comes nearly four months after a shooter opened fire at a private Christian school in Nashville and killed six people, including three nine-year-old children. That tragedy has sparked closer scrutiny of Tennessee’s relaxed gun laws and renewed calls to strengthen security at both public and private schools across the state.
(AP)
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13 Responses
“When asked if law enforcement believe the shooting was a hate crime, Crowe said officers were still on the scene and collecting information.
“It’s way too early for that. Again, we’re very early in this investigation,” Crowe said.”
Of course not. Perish the thought. It’s an expression of love…
Anyone has any news that local media has said that the shooter was Jewish and attended the yeshiva???
I heard a reporter ask if the shooter was working at the construction site for the school. Maybe just maybe he got screwed by his employer.
Please don’t waste a single penny of taxpayers’ money on hospitalization for this heinous savage
Well, now they’re saying he was a former student, so…
Steven,
Why are you (& so many other Jews) against giving law enforcement time to figure things out?
Steven,
It’s now being reported the shooter was JEWISH & ATTENDED the school.
Perhaps now you understand the importance of giving law enforcement time to sort things out?
steven.wright
I have a friend from Memphis. He said the shooter was a student at Margolin like 15 years ago. His brother knows him
The shooter is a former student and it looks like mental illness, not anti-Semitism.
Putting aside the stupidity of some posters to immediately assume the shooter was some right-wing antisemitic nutcase, we have seen this scenario before. Several mass shootings at schools have involved former students with some crazy grievance against the school or just some unknown rage where the school becomes the target for grievances.
Is it a hate crime? No, it’s a love crime. He should burn in gehonim.
did nobody notice how in the picture of the guy he was wearing a blue shirt and in the phone call they describes him as wearing a green shirt
Don’t be so quick to judge. Keep in mind that there were no students at the school at the time of the incident.
The following is from a former student who knew the shooter. It’s from the website of a local TV station.
“Genuinely to the core, I don’t think he would ever intentionally hurt someone,” she said. “He has struggled with mental health for a number of years.”
Twenty years ago, she says his father, a respected doctor who also suffered from mental illness, was shot and killed by Memphis police.
“Someone felt unsafe and called the police, and as he was going to put down the gun, he had turned around and I think it was like nine or ten police officers all opened fire at the same time and completely mutilated him,” Eshelman-Worch said.
She said the shooting traumatized Bowman. Understanding the weight of what could have happened, she’s asking people not to pass judgment.