US authorities have shot a man after they say he fired shots at a Jewish school in Memphis, Tennessee on Monday afternoon, CNN reported.
The Memphis police were called to the Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South at around 12:20 pm after an armed man tried to enter the school, according to Memphis Police Assistant Chief Don Crowe.
According to police the suspect tried to enter the building but couldn’t get inside. “When he could not gain entry, he fired shots outside the school,” Crowe said. No one was injured at the school.
School officials gave the police a photo and a description of the suspect’s maroon-coloured Dodge Ram pickup truck.
Crowe said, a short time later, Memphis police officers found a vehicle matching the description and stopped the driver. The suspect got out of the truck with a gun in his hand and was shot by an officer.
The suspect was taken to a local hospital and is in critical condition.
According to the Memphis Police Assistant Chief, authorities are investigating a motive and it is “way too early” to know whether the suspect had any connection to the school or whether the incident could be a hate crime.
US Representative Steve Cohen, who represents the Memphis area, said his office has learned the shooter is Jewish and a former student of the school, CNN reported.
A news release from Cohen’s office read: “We have recently learned that the shooter at the Margolin Hebrew Academy was himself Jewish and a former student at the school. I am pleased the academy had effective security and that the police acted quickly to protect students.”
CNN has reached out to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Cohen’s office for more details. The Congressman didn’t specify the source of the information.
A spokesperson for the Secure Community Network, an organization that has worked with the school through the Memphis Jewish Federation, also told CNN that the suspect is Jewish.
According to the spokesperson, who spoke to CNN by phone, the incident at the academy “was personal in nature.”
The investigation is being led by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the FBI. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and the Bartlett Police Department helped in finding the suspect, as per CNN.
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