Officer stops school shooting

A police officer on Wednesday morning prevented a potentially deadly shooting by confronting a student who opened fire at a northern Illinois high school. School Resource Officer Mark Dallas charged the 19-year-old suspect shortly after he shot several rounds in a hallway at Dixon High School in Dixon, Ill. The suspect, who authorities have not identified, took off running but continued shooting at Dallas, who returned fire and injured the suspect. Dallas’ action saved “an enormous amount of lives,” said Lee County Sheriff John Simonton. Seniors were rehearsing for their upcoming graduation ceremony in a nearby gymnasium. The suspect, reportedly a former student at the high school, was taken into custody and is receiving medical treatment for injuries that are not life threatening. No one else was injured in the attack, and police believe the gunman acted alone. When police searched the school they found faculty and students who had barricaded themselves in classrooms with desks, chairs, and furniture, just as they had been trained to do. “A lot of things went right today and many things could have gone wrong,” Dixon Mayor Liandro Arellano Jr. told reporters at a news conference Wednesday.