By Todd Richmond | Associated Press
MOUNT HOREB, Wis. — Witnesses described children fleeing amid the sound of gunshots near a Wisconsin middle school where authorities said an active shooter was “neutralized” outside the building Wednesday. There were no reported injuries to those inside the school.
For panicked kids and their parents, the incident was terrifying. Parents described children hiding in closets, afraid to communicate on their cell phones, and one middle schooler said his class initially fled the school gym on in-line skates.
Authorities in Mount Horeb said without giving details that the “alleged assailant” was harmed, and witnesses described hearing gunshots and seeing dozens of children running.
Police patrolled with rifles outside Mount Horeb Middle School later Wednesday afternoon. Photos by the Wisconsin State Journal showed more than a dozen law enforcement vehicles including SWAT-style trucks nearby with emergency lights flashing. First responders surrounding a gurney on the sidewalk also were visible.
The district said in several Facebook posts starting around 11:30 a.m. that all district schools were on lockdown.
“An initial search of the middle school has not yielded additional suspects,” a post around noon said. “As importantly, we have no reports of individuals being harmed, with the exception of the alleged assailant.”
Earlier, the district posted that “the threat has been neutralized outside of the building” but didn’t give further details of what had happened at the school in Mount Horeb, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of the state capital of Madison.
Jeanne Keller said she heard about five gunshots while in her shop The Quilting Jeanne, just down the block from the campus that includes the middle school.
“It was maybe like pow-pow-pow-pow,” Keller told The Associated Press by phone. “I thought it was fireworks. I went outside and saw all the children running … I probably saw 200 children.”One middle…
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