Police body cam vision of school shooting arrest released

A boy will face court on Friday after being charged over an alleged school shooting in a major city’s northern fringes.

The dramatic moment a 15-year-old boy was arrested after a school shooting has been captured on body cam footage.

Western Australia Police released the footage following a school shooting in Perth’s northern fringes.

Three shots were fired from a rifle at Atlantis Beach Baptist College in Two Rocks but no one was injured.

A 15-year-old boy was charged with several offences on Thursay afternoon. He will appear in Perth Children’s Court on Friday.

The vision opens with an officer forcing the 15-year-old boy to the ground and handcuffing him.

Inside the black Nissan Pathfinder, the officer found what appears to be two rifle bags on the passenger seat.

The three-and-a-half minute video begins with an officer forcing the 15-year-old to the ground, his arms in the air, before he is placed in handcuffs.

The officers race over to a black Nissan Pathfinder, opening the driver side door to reveal what appears to be rifle bags on the passenger seat.

“Firearms are secured in the vehicle,” the owner of the body cam can be heard speaking into a radio.

“We have the vehicle, with firearms secured in the vehicle, one male in custody.”

One of the entry points in the side of a demountable classroom, which had students and staff inside at the time.

The exit point of one of the gunshots, showing the round went clear through the building.

A group of officers then enters the main school building, making its way to a demountable classroom outside, which had been hit by gunfire.

The vision shows the entry and exit points of at least two rounds – children and staff were inside the demountable at the time of the shooting, just before midday on Wednesday.

At least one round went clear through the structure.

The video concludes with bullet casings found in the college car park where the shooting took place.

WA Police on Thursday charged the boy. He faces seven charges, including no authority to drive, three counts of unlicensed person possess firearm/ammunition, possess prohibited weapon, unlawful act of ommissio with intent to harm, and discharge a firearm to the danger of, or in a manner to cause fear.

One of the bullet shells found in the car park where the 15-year-old, believed to be a former student, carried out the shooting.

Meanwhile, the Premier of Western Australia said the incident “could have been so much worse” while acknowledging there’s “too many guns” in his state.

Mark McGowan toured the school on Thursday morning, which was in lockdown almost 24 hours earlier.

Mr McGowan said it was a dramatic event for the school, praising staff, students and responding police.

“When something completely unexpected took place, they acted appropriately … it was traumatic, and no doubt will have some lasting impacts on those involved,” he said.

“You almost never think this would happen here … in Western Australia, in Two Rocks of all places … it’s the kind of thing you see on television in the United States.

“We are moving as quickly as we can to dramatically reform our state’s gun laws … there are 360,000 guns in Western Australia; that’s way too many.

“A range of measures will be taken later this year to reform gun laws, but that's secondary to what’s happened.”

WA Premier Mark McGowan toured Atlantis Beach Baptist College on Thursday, before addressing the media.

Sweeping reforms to the state’s gun laws had already been announced in April, cracking down on 56 types of firearm and 19 types of ammunition which are currently legal in WA.

The Premier touted those proposed changes as being “the toughest gun laws in Australia”.

But Mr McGowan ruled out beefing up security at the state’s public schools.

“We have 900 public schools … you can’t have security, you can’t have them armed, at every school,” he said.

“Students have the right to go to school safely, and staff have the right to a safe environment.”

Parents collect their children from Atlantis Beach Baptist College on Wednesday afternoon following an hour of lockdown. Picture: Nine News

Meanwhile, the Atlantis College was closed on Thursday and is expected to open with limited activities on Friday, before resuming normal operations from Monday.

Forensic officers spent hours combing over the car park where the shooting took place, recovering three bullet casings.

Two rifles were also seized from a black four-wheel-drive which according to police the boy had used to drive himself to the school.

Officers also conducted a search of the home belonging to the boy’s parents.

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch on Wednesday said he believed the shooting was ‘a rare incident’ and ‘a one-off’.

Speaking in the hours following the incident, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch praised the efforts of some children who had called triple-0 after hearing gunshots.

“It really shocked me that this has occurred in Western Australia, but what I’m really pleased about is the response from the school and the response from the community,” said Mr Blanch.

“This is one of the most rarest incidents in Australia … I truly believe this is a rare incident, and a one-off.”