According to the platform he used, the adolescent who shot and killed a student at a Nashville, Tennessee, high school livestreamed a portion of the event and was influenced by online content that officials deemed offensive and dangerous on Thursday.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in a statement Thursday that the 17-year-old shooter, who injured another student before taking his own life, fired 10 shots from a 9 mm pistol 17 seconds after entering the Antioch High School cafeteria, southeast of downtown Nashville, on Wednesday.
In response to the police chief’s earlier statement that the shooter took the bus to school, the department stated that the shooter was dropped off by his mother. According to investigators, he posted pictures to social media and used a nearby restroom before opening fire.
Kick, a streaming network, stated in a statement Thursday that the attack was partially livestreamed on the platform. According to the statement, the corporation deleted the video and promptly banned the account that uploaded it.
According to the company, violence has no place on KICK. In order to assist law enforcement with their investigation, we are actively collaborating with them and taking all necessary actions.
The police department reported that a handgun with seven rounds was found on the cafeteria floor.
Someone in Arizona purchased the firearm used by the shooter in 2022. Police stated the weapon had not been reported stolen and did not identify that individual.
According to the police department, homicide investigators are examining two documents totaling 339 pages that the gunman, Solomon Henderson, appears to have left behind.
According to the statement, it is evident that he was greatly influenced by online content, particularly that which could be found on unconventional websites that most people would consider offensive and destructive. The MNPD and the FBI are collaborating closely on this investigation’s section on ideological influences.
A potential motivation has not been made public by the police department.
The 16-year-old schoolgirl who was killed was identified by authorities as Josselin Corea Escalante. After receiving treatment at a nearby hospital for a graze wound to his arm, a male student, 17, was allowed to go home.
He ducked behind trash cans before running out the back door, a student who was in the cafeteria told Nashville’s NBC affiliate WSMV about the horrifying encounter.
“I saw people getting shot, on the ground, bleeding and stuff,” the student said to the channel. “I tried to help these people who was falling, getting pushed.”
According to officials on Thursday, a weapons detection system that was installed at Antioch and powered by artificial intelligence was unable to identify the gunman’s weapon.
At a news conference, school spokesman Sean Braisted told reporters that although Omnilert, the technology, partially relies on the schools’ current camera network, the shooter’s gun was not detected by the system due to his close proximity to those cameras.
“It wasn t close enough to get an accurate read and to activate that alarm,” Braisted stated. He continued: “It’s not going to work in every instance, in every spot, based on where that weapon might be visible.”
Instead, he alleged, police used their weapons to trigger the system while responding.