Seventh grader shoots himself in Ohio school, prompting lockdown

OHIO: A seventh-grade student shot and wounded himself inside a school bathroom in Ohio on Tuesday morning with a gun he brought to school, but no one else was injured, police said.

The school, located in the city of Massillon, about 55 miles (90 km) south of Cleveland, went into lockdown after the shooting, before closing early for the day, police and school officials said.

The boy, whose age and name have not been released, brought a .22-caliber long gun and a backpack filled with “distractionary devices” to Jackson Memorial Middle School, Jackson Township Police Chief Mark Brink said.

“It’s not a bomb, I can tell you that,” Brink told reporters. “It’s something that’s going to make smoke or make a bang and take your attention somewhere else.”

It was not clear if the student had set off the devices.

Police said they were still investigating why and how the student ended up shooting himself and whether the shooting was deliberate or accidental.

The extent of the student’s injuries was also not known. Brink said he was being treated in a hospital.

The lockdown at the Massillon school, which has a student body of about 1,400, came at a time of heightened tension following a shooting spree at a Florida high school last week that killed 17 people.