OCALA, Fla. — A Florida school resource officer is being praised for quickly confronting the gunman during a shooting at a high school that injured one student Friday.
The shooting happened Friday morning at Forest High School in Ocala, which was put on lockdown. The wounded student, a 17-year-old boy, was taken to a local hospital for treatment of a non-life threatening injury to his ankle.
The suspect,19-year-old Sky Bouche, was quickly taken into custody by the school resource officer, Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy James Long, officials said.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said Long heard a loud bang about 8:39 a.m. and immediately rushed to the source of the sound. Within minutes, at about 8:42 a.m., Long reached the shooting scene and the shooter was in custody, officials said.
Long “did not hesitate. He went right in,” Woods said at a news conference.
Bouche, a former student, carried a shotgun in a guitar case into the school by blending in with students, said Craig Ham, deputy superintendent of Ocala schools operations. Ham told reporters the shooter fired at the bottom of a classroom door, which was locked, and pellets struck the victim in the ankle.
“I just shot through the door,” Bouche told reporters as he was being led away by deputies Friday afternoon.
The sheriff said the suspect was not injured, was not fired at, and was arrested without resistance.
“Marion County does everything to protect their children,” Woods said.
Woods praised the quick response by Long, as well as school personnel and first responders.
The shooting comes just over two months after a gunman killed 17 people and wounded 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Nikolas Cruz, 19, faces the death penalty if convicted in that shooting.
The Ocala shooting also coincided with a nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence on the anniversary of the 19th anniversary of the 1999 massacre at Colorado’s Columbine High School. Ocala students said they had been planning to participate.
