14 DAY TRIAL // The first day back to school after the break ended in bloodshed at a middle school in Nevada, when one of the students took a gun he’d found at home and shot and killed a teacher, and injured two other kids, CNN reports.
The gun belonged to his parents but, as of the time of writing, authorities are still looking into his motives for going on a shooting rampage. The shooter turned the gun on himself and is dead.
“It's too early to say whether he was targeting specific people or just going on an indiscriminate shooting spree,” Tom Robinson, deputy chief of the Reno Police Department, tells CNN.
The teacher who was shot dead was a former Marine, Mike Landsberry, and he died as he was trying to get the shooter to put the gown down. His brother says for the same media outlet that this is exactly the kind of thing Mike would do.
“He was the kind of person that if someone needed help he would be there. He loved teaching. He loved the kids. He loved coaching them... He was just a good all-around individual,” the brother reveals. According to reports, Mike was also a hero, putting personal safety second to the safety of the children.
Police sources say that the two kids who have been injured might have been friends of the shooter. One of his classmates describes him as a “nice” person who was always ready to make people smile on a bad day.
However, one theory police are considering is that he’d been bullied in school.
“I was deeply saddened to learn of the horrific shooting at Sparks Middle School this morning. My administration is receiving regular updates and the Nevada Highway Patrol is assisting at the scene. Kathleen and I extend our thoughts and prayers to the victims and those affected by these tragic events,” Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval says in a statement.
The investigation is now underway.