Rigby Shooting: Teacher disarms 6th grade girl who shot three people in Idaho middle school

A sixth-grade girl brought a gun to an eastern Idaho middle school on Thursday, shooting two students and a school employee until a teacher disarmed her, according to local police. The girl, whose name has not been released, is now in police custody.

“Today we had the worst nightmare a school district could encounter. We had a school shooting here at Rigby Middle School,” Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin told KIFI-TV, a local news station. “What we know so far is the shooter has been apprehended. There is no further threat to the public or the students.”

The three victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are in stable condition. None of their names have been released either.

“Me and my classmate were just in class with our teacher — we were doing work — and then all of a sudden, here was a loud noise and then there were two more loud noises. Then there was screaming,” 12-year-old Yandel Rodriguez told the Associated Press. “Our teacher went to check it out, and he found blood.”

One of the injured people was an adult school custodian, Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson said.

“This is a very difficult and trying time for our community,” Mr Anderson told reporters on Thursday afternoon.

The suspect resides in Idaho Falls, Idaho, but goes to school in Rigby, police said.

When the shooting began, students were evacuated from Rigby Middle School to a neighbouring high school. They sheltered in a gymnasium, where schools officials have said parents can come collect their children.

Sheriff’s deputies, paramedics, and fire department personnel were on the scene evacuating the school and treating the injured.

Parents reported to local media that their children began texting them once shots were fired and Rigby Middle and High School, across the street from each other, went into lockdown.

Idaho officials said they are monitoring the situation.

Governor Brad Little said on Thursday he was “praying for the lives and safety of those involved” in a tweet on Thursday.

“I am monitoring the heartbreaking events in Rigby today and my heart goes out to all of those involved in this tragedy,” Idaho congressman Mike Simpson tweeted on Thursday. “To the first responders and our heroic teachers and faculty who are keeping our children safe, thank you.”

Rigby is a small town of a few thousand about an hour’s drive from Yellowstone National Park, and was the site of a violent incident in 1989, when a student at Rigby Junior High pulled out a gun, threatened classmates, and took a teen girl hostage.

Thursday’s shooting was believed to be only the second school shooting in Idaho’s history.

Prior to the Rigby incident, there have been at least six school shootings in 2021, already nearly equalling 2020’s total of 10, according toEducation Week, though those numbers are well below pre-pandemic levels.