Here's what we know about the Nashville high school shooting

(CNN) — Law enforcement officials seeking a motive for a shooting at Nashville’s Antioch High School on Wednesday morning are examining alarming social media posts and writings tied to a teenager police say shot and killed a 16-year-old girl.

The shooter, identified by Metro Nashville Police as 17-year-old Solomon Henderson, fired 10 shots within 17 seconds inside a cafeteria shortly after 11 a.m. –– killing Josselin Corea Escalante.

Josselin’s family described her as kind and loving, CNN affiliate WTVF reported.

Henderson killed himself after the attack, police said.

One student, a 17-year-old boy, suffered a graze wound to the arm and was treated and released, police said, while another male student sustained a facial injury but was not shot. Police did not name those victims.

Wednesday’s tragedy, which sent students in the cafeteria scrambling for cover, was the first school shooting in the US this year, based on CNN’s school shooting database parameters. There were 83 school shootings in 2024, the most of any year CNN has tracked.

AI gun detection software, which is used in all Metro Nashville Public Schools, failed to detect the shooter’s gun, district officials said Thursday. The technology, called Omnilert, didn’t spot the weapon because the shooter wasn’t close enough to cameras to get an accurate read and activate the alarm, the school district said.

“It does work, but it’s not going to work in every instance, in every spot based on where that weapon might be visible,” Sean Braisted, chief of communications and technology for the district, said in a news conference Thursday.

Omnilert CEO Dave Fraser said the safety and well-being of its schools is the company’s top priority. “Our hearts go out to the students, staff, families, and the entire Nashville community affected by this tragic event,” Fraser said in a statement to CNN Thursday.

“We can confirm that the Omnilert Gun Detect system is deployed at MNPS schools but in this case the location of the shooter and the firearm meant that the weapon was not visible,” Fraser said. “This is not a case of the firearm not being recognized by the system.”

School district director Adrienne Battle said the district will enhance security measures in response to the tragedy.

“As we’ve seen a heightened sense around the safety and security in our schools, both with external (and) internal threats, we are continuing to research and study the most evolving technologies that will help us enhance the safety and security measures within our schools,” Battle said at the news conference.

The suspect livestreamed himself inside the school minutes before the shooting began, a video posted to the Australian streaming platform, Kick, shows.

In the video the suspect, who’s wearing black boots, attempts to open a door before walking away from it and walking past a vending machine.

Kick released a statement noting the account and video were “rapidly banned.”

“Violence has no place on Kick. We are actively working with law enforcement and taking all appropriate steps to support their investigation,” the statement said.

In addition to the livestream, a photo posted to the suspect’s Kick account read “you already failed to stop what’s happening.”

Authorities are investigating whether the victims were directly targeted by Henderson or struck by random gunfire, Metro Nashville Police said.

The department has also been examining “very concerning online writings and social media posts,” which it says could reveal clues to Henderson’s motive.

Two documents believed to have been created by Henderson were found online, authorities said Thursday. The 51-page and 288-page documents are under investigation, along with evidence recovered from his home Wednesday, according to police.

“It is clear that Henderson was significantly influenced by web-based material, especially that found on non-traditional sites that most would find harmful and objectionable,” Metro Nashville Police said Thursday. “The FBI is working closely with the MNPD in the ideological influences portion of this investigation.”

Social media posts and videos posted by the suspect show a history of racist, antisemitic, and violent beliefs. The online writings include a long rambling look into the suspects views on race, religion and society. He espouses violence as the solution to what he viewed as society’s problems. They also include a detailed plan of the shooting and a layout of the school.

Photos of tools the shooter claimed he would use to carry out his plans and photos of handguns with ammunition are also included in the writings.

The posts also mention Henderson was inspired by recent school shooters such as Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow and Colt Gray, who authorities say attacked their schools in 2024. His writings mention connections with some of them on online messaging platforms. These connections have not been confirmed, according to MNPD, who CNN has reached out to.

Rupnow, 15, died by suicide after police say she killed a staff member and a student, while wounding six others at her Wisconsin private Christian school.

Gray has pleaded not guilty in the shooting deaths of four people at a Georgia High School.

Law enforcement officials are also working to determine where the handgun Henderson used came from and how he obtained it. The pistol was purchased in Arizona in 2022 and had not been reported stolen, Nashville police said Thursday.

Students recall climbing over milk counter

Henderson’s mother had driven him to school on Wednesday, police said. Before entering the cafeteria that morning, he went into a nearby restroom, where he posted photos to social media, according to law enforcement.

Antioch senior Brandi Lemons was about to get in line to buy lunch in the cafeteria when she suddenly heard a loud “pop,” she said.

Students in the lunch line turned around to see what the noise was. Then, three more loud pops rang out. “Everybody started running and I ran to the left side of the cafeteria,” Brandi told CNN.

Everyone tried to climb over a milk counter to reach the back door of the cafeteria and escape, she said. Some students struggled to climb over the counter, so Brandi tried to assist them.

“Honestly, I decided to help people before I helped myself because I know if that was me struggling to get out, I would want somebody to help me,” she said.

Suddenly, the shooter came around the corner where Brandi and others were hiding, she said. She didn’t know the shooter, she said. “When I realized that he saw the rest of us still in the corner, I thought that was it,” Brandi said through tears. “I thought he was going to get us too.”

But instead, the shooter killed himself.

Quickly after, Brandi climbed over the milk counter with the other students and ran outside.

“I’m just shaken up,” she told CNN.

Another student, Candace Huff, described witnessing the horror to CNN.

“I was freaking out, hyperventilating, everything. And I felt stressed, overwhelmed. I felt like my whole world was crumbling apart in my hands, and I didn’t have my phone so I couldn’t call my mom,” Huff said.

“And so, I was really just there … and no one would know that I’m gone.”

‘It’s not fair,’ victim’s father says

Josselin Corea Escalante’s father is beyond devastated by the loss, he told WTVF. He said his daughter always got good grades and enjoyed playing soccer.

Even though she was an older sister, Josselin was still daddy’s little girl, German Corea told WTVF.

“Every day I told her how much I loved her,” Corea told the affiliate in Spanish.

When he sent her to school Wednesday, he never imagined she wouldn’t come home, Corea said.

“It’s not fair,” he said.

Josselin’s aunt Maria Corea said the family is at a loss for words.

“Oh God. She was my girl,” she told WTVF. “She was a very calm girl and well-behaved. She had good grades in school. She was a girl who loved her parents and all her family.”

Antioch community reeling and in shock

It was “a heartbreaking day” for the school community, the director of the Metro Nashville Public Schools district said.

“My heart goes out to the families of our students as they face unimaginable loss. I want to thank the school staff who quickly and heroically followed emergency protocols, potentially preventing further harm, as well as the Metro Nashville Police Department and Nashville Fire Department for their swift and urgent response,” Battle said in a statement.

A new fund has been established by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to aid victims and their families, officials announced Thursday.

The district said it was making counselors available to students. The school will be closed for the rest of the week, the district said.

Antioch High School has around 2,000 students in grades 9 through 12, according to its website. The school is in Nashville’s Antioch neighborhood, about 10 miles southeast of downtown.

Two student resource officers, known as SROs, were in the school at the time of the shooting, but the incident was over by the time they got to the scene, police spokesperson Don Aaron said.

“We grieve together tonight as a city. We responded together earlier today. We have to respond tomorrow amidst the chaos. We feel frustration and anguish. We will heal together. Our communities deserve better. I have two daughters and they should be safe and feel safe,” Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said at a vigil held at Antioch Church on Wednesday evening.

Democratic Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones, whose district includes parts of Nashville and was a vocal proponent of new gun control laws following the shooting deaths of three students and three adults at The Covenant School in Nashville in March 2023, said Wednesday no child should be scared “because of the omnipresent threat of gun violence.”

“The fear reverberating around the Antioch and Nashville communities today is a chilling reminder of the human cost of political inaction and the senseless tragedy of gun violence perpetuated by leaders who have prioritized firearms and the profits of the gun industry over the lives of our students,” Jones said.

Jones was one of two Black lawmakers expelled then swiftly reinstated after calling for gun control reform on the House floor in 2023.

CNN’s Rebekah Riess, Alex Leeds Matthews and Ryan Young contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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