One dead in horror school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee

A 17-year-old has gone on a terrifying shooting rampage at a US high school, leaving one dead and others injured.

A 17-year-old student has opened fire at a Nashville High School, leaving one dead and others severely injured.

The incident took place just after 11am on Wednesday local time in the cafeteria at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee, police said.

One student, a girl named Josselin Corea Escalante, was killed and another was injured before the shooter, Solomon Henderson, turned the gun on himself and died.

Multiple gunshots can be heard in terrifying footage of the incident uploaded by students to social media.

Emergency personnel gather outside Antioch High School. Picture: Metro Nashville Police via AP

A police SWAT team has since cleared the building and authorities say there is no longer any danger at the school.

The two victims were transported to hospital, where the female student passed away and a male student was treated for a bullet wound to his arm.

Another male student was being treated for a facial injury that was not a gunshot wound after falling during the chaos, police said.

The motive behind the shooting was not made immediately clear and police are still unsure if the victims were targeted.

The investigation is ongoing.

People wait as school buses arrive at a unification site following the shooting. Picture: AP Photo/George Walker IV

Henderson opened fire in the school’s cafeteria at 11:09am local time and police were called to the school at 11:11am.

Parents of students were urged not to come to the school but instead go to a nearby hospital in order to be reunited with their children.

Nashville’s school district shared a phone number that families could call for information.

“The line is very busy,” the school district said.

“Stay on even if you don’t hear a tone.”

Buses took students to the reunification centre with aerial footage showing a crowd of people outside the hospital.

A student and a family member after the shooting. Picture: AP Photo/George Walker IV

Over 2,100 students attend the public high school.

Antioch is a neighbourhood of Nashville, located around 16 kilometres southeast of the CBD.

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake said during a. news conference that there are online “materials” factoring into the police investigation.

“As to a motive, we’re looking into that,” Drake said.

“There are some materials on the internet that we’re looking at that’s under the investigation.”

He later said he hopes in the future that if people see something concerning they say something.

“We believe there’s some materials out there, and maybe they were seen,” Drake said, adding if someone “said something, maybe more could have been done.”

Dasia Pleitez prays as she waits for her daughter at a unification. Picture: AP Photo/George Walker IV

Students, teachers and parents have been left shaken by the incident.

Kelisha Walden waited hours to hug her daughter and shed tears when she and her 16-year-old, Yvelle Walden, reunited Thursday, according to The Tennessean.

Yvelle was heading to lunch when gunfire erupted, with the break starting at 11:05am for her and other students.

“Out of nowhere, I just hear gunshots,” she told the newspaper.

She ran back to class and told her teacher to lock the door. More than three hours later, the mother and daughter were able to reunite.

“She ran up and was like ‘don’t cry, don’t cry,’” Kelisha said.

“I said: ‘Too late.’”

An ambulance leaves the Antioch High School. Picture: AP Photo/George Walker IV

The horror shooting has come less than two years after a shooter killed three children and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville.

In March 2023, Audrey Hale, 28, gunned down six people – including three nine-year-old children – at The Covenant School.

In October 2024, one person was killed and nine others injured after a gunman opened fire just before a homecoming football game in Nashville, near the local Tennessee State University (TSU).

Families wait as school buses arrive at a unification site. Picture: AP Photo/George Walker IV

In 2024, a total of 69 victims were killed in school shooting incidents, according to data from the K-12 School Shooting Database.

So far in 2025, there have been 10 school shooting incidents, according to the database.

In 2024, there were 330 incidents, the second-highest total in at least the last decade.

The data includes any instance of a gun fired or brandished or when a bullet hits school property, including gang violence, domestic incidents and accidents.