Three wounded at Olathe East after student and school resource officer exchange gunfire
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Olathe East High School shooting
A shooting at a Johnson County high school injured a school resource officer and an administrator, according to police. The suspect, a student, is in custody.
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Gunfire erupted between an 18-year-old student and a school resource officer at Olathe East High School, leaving three people wounded Friday morning.
The school resource officer, identified as Erik Clark, responded to the school’s main office at 10:38 a.m. to what police described as an administrative matter with the student.
Shots were exchanged after the student displayed a handgun, said Sgt. Joel Yeldell, a spokesman for the Olathe Police Department.
The officer, a school administrator and the student were injured in the shooting.
According to audio captured by Broadcastify, the officer radioed into dispatchers, saying, “I’ve been shot.”
“I have applied a tourniquet on myself.”
He later tells the dispatcher he believes the suspect and a school official were also shot.
The student was taken into custody.
The high school was placed on lockdown until it was deemed safe and the school district arranged reunification locations for families.
Parent Nichelle Smith said her daughter, a junior, relayed she and fellow students were locked in classrooms until it was safe for them to be released. Smith’s daughter video called her after the shooting and continued sending her updates over text message.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Smith said. “You hear about this and you never really think it’s going to happen to your child at school. It was a very scary moment.”
All three of the men who were shot were transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center. Clark and the school administrator, identified as assistant principal Kaleb Stoppel, were released from the hospital later Friday.
The hospital said Friday afternoon that the student remained in critical condition.
Olathe police said the case will be forwarded to the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office for consideration of criminal charges.
The shooting activated Johnson County’s Officer Involved Shooting Investigation Team. The school resource officer has been placed on paid administrative leave, as is standard protocol.
This story was originally published March 4, 2022 at 8:48 PM with the headline "Three wounded at Olathe East after student and school resource officer exchange gunfire."
