Student fatally shoots 1 student, wounds another at Nashville high school, police say (2025)

A female student has died and another student was wounded in a shooting Wednesday morning at Antioch High School in Nashville, a police spokesman said.

Josselin Corea Escalante, 16, was killed when a 17-year-old student armed with a pistol fired multiple shots in a school cafeteria at 11:09 a.m., according to Metro Nashville Police.

Authorities identified the shooter as Solomon Henderson, who killed himself after shooting his schoolmates, police said.

A male student victim had what was described as a graze wound to the arm and was treated and released, police said. Another male student sustained a facial injury but was not shot. Police did not name those victims.

A spokesperson for Vanderbilt University Medical Center referred questions to police.

It’s unclear whether the shooting victims were directly targeted by Henderson or struck by random gunfire.

“The investigation to this point has not established a connection between Henderson and the two shooting victims,” Metro Nashville Police said in a statement. “It may be that they were struck by his random gunfire in the cafeteria.”

Nashville police are searching for a motive as they investigate.

“Homicide Unit detectives along with their law enforcement partners in the MNPD and federal/state agencies are examining very concerning online writings and social media posts connected to 17-year-old Solomon Henderson as they work to establish the motive behind Henderson’s gunfire this morning in Antioch High School’s cafeteria,” the department said.

The attack was partially live-streamed on Kick, according to a statement released by the Australian streaming platform on Wednesday. The company added that 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.”

Wednesday’s tragedy was the first school shooting to occur in the US this year, based on CNN’s school shooting database parameters. There were 83 incidents in 2024, the most of any year CNN has tracked.

After the shooting, a SWAT team cleared the school b uilding, police spokesman Don Aaron said at a news conference.

The director for Metro Nashville Public Schools, the district for Antioch High School, called it “a heartbreaking day” for the school community.

“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,” Adrienne Battle said in a statement.

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 families, MNPS social workers and guidance counselors will be available to support you and your student,” the school district said.

Antioch High School is home to approximately 2,000 students in grades 9 through 12, according to its website. The school is located 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, Aaron said.

“They were not in the immediate vicinity of the cafeteria … By the time the SROs got down there, the shooting had stopped, and the shooter had shot himself,” he said.

The Nashville Fire Department, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Tennessee Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded.

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.

Students climbed over milk counter as gunshots rang out in cafeteria

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 in order to reach the backdoor 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. “Some of them were getting stuck, like their shoe was getting caught.”

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.

‘It’s not fair,’ victim’s father says

Josselin Corea Escalante’s father is beyond devastated by the loss, he told CNN affiliate WTVF. He described his daughter as a kind and loving person who 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.”

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

This story has been updated with additional information.

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