Police in Memphis said they had likely prevented a mass shooting after they shot a man who earlier was reported to have opened fire at a Jewish day school in the Tennessee city.
In a statement and news conference, local police said they had responded to a report of a white man with a handgun shooting outside the Margolin Hebrew Academy and trying to gain entry to the building.
The man failed to enter the school as he was unable to get past the double security doors. “Thankfully, that school had a great safety procedure and process in place and avoided anyone being harmed or injured at that scene,” said Dan Crow, the assistant police chief.
The assailant then fled the scene in a maroon pick up truck before police arrived. However, the truck was then located nearby after an alert was put out.
After police stopped the vehicle the driver then got out armed with his gun, causing one police officer to open fire, injuring him. The suspect was then taken to hospital.
“I am proud of the vigilant and quick response of MPD officers who mitigated a potential mass shooting situation today,” said police chief Cerelyn Davis in a statement.
No possible motive for the attack has yet been given. “It’s way too early for that. Again, we’re very early in this investigation,” said Crowe.
The attack on the Jewish school came as a Pennsylvania jury was deliberating whether to impose the death penalty or a sentence of life in prison without parole on a man who spewed antisemitic hate before fatally shooting 11 worshippers in 2018 at a synagogue in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community.
The assault on the Tree of Life synagogue was the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.
US congressman Steve Cohen, whose district includes Memphis, said in a statement that he was “shocked” to hear about the incident at the school and noted that acts of “violent antisemitism” are “on the rise across the country”.
