When a young, armed, man entered Dixon High School in Illinois on Wednesday, intent on doing innocents harm, he was met by a good guy with a gun.
Today, school resource officer Mark Dallas is being hailed as a hero for stopping the shooter, who opened fire near the high school gym.
The violence erupted at the school, about 100 miles west of Chicago, while students were practicing for graduation, according to this story from newsweek.com.
The 19-year-old former student fired several shots near the gym before Dallas began pursuing him. The gunman opened fire on Dallas, who then returned fire, wounding the shooter.
“A 19-year-old former Dixon High student is in custody with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the shoulder after bringing a gun to the school this morning,” says this story from saukvalley.com.
This story from dailywire.com includes an update that says the suspect was identified as a “troubled student who was in fact still enrolled at the school but was ‘working independently out of the principal’s office.’” And that “Illinois State Police say he faces three felony counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm and may face further charges. He was shoot twice in the shoulder.”
City Administrator Danny Langloss, whose daughter was one of the seniors in the gym, said the officer was not injured nor was anyone else, save the shooter.
“We’re lucky the officer was there. His brave actions saved a lot of lives,” Langloss said in this story from dailywire.com.
NRA TV gave Dallas some special coverage, alleging that mainstream media outlets, like CNN, are not giving him adequate coverage:
On social media, Second Amendment advocate Kyle Kashuv sent out a Tweet that compared Dallas’ response to the response of Schoo resource officers to the Parkland shooting in Florida:
ARMED MALE SHOT AT POLICE OFFICER AT DIXON HIGH SCHOOL (resource officer does his job and saves lives) https://t.co/7kGLjq6UE4
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) May 16, 2018
This story from wgntv.com says the news channel spoke to the suspect’s mother.
From the story: (the suspect’s name has been redacted)
“The woman said her son was bullied and ostracized at school, and was beaten up in October. Officials initially described [the suspect] as a former student, but the woman said [he] still attended Dixon High School, where he worked independently out of the principal’s office. He was slated to attend graduation rehearsal Wednesday, the woman said, but instead showed up with a gun.”
She told reporters she doesn’t have a gun in the house and doesn’t know how her son obtained a firearm.