Alabama police shot and killed a “potential intruder” who tried to enter a primary school where summer programs were held on Thursday morning, officials said.
Robert White, 32, showed up at Walnut Park Primary School and tried to open several exterior doors – but they were all locked, Gadsden School Principal Tony Reddick told reporters.
The school principal spotted the “potential intruder” and warned the school resource officer, Reddick said.
A school resource official confronted White, who was later seen trying to break into a Rainbow City police car, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said in a statement to The Post. Additional Gadsden police officers arrived at the school to help, the statement said.
White resisted and tried to take the line gun. At one point, he was fatally shot and pronounced dead, the agency said. Further details were not immediately available.
Although the school is not for the summer, 34 children were inside for the summer literacy classes.
It is unclear whether White was armed or why he tried to enter the school or police car.
Officers gather in front of Walnut Park Elementary School in Gadsden, Alabama, after a fatal police shooting. Jesse Jarold-Grapes / The Gadsden Times / AP
Reddick said the employee was slightly injured and no students were injured. Most of the children did not even notice the chaos outside.
“Our main concern was simply to make sure that someone who is not authorized to be in our building will not enter and our children are safe,” he said.
Officials are not sure what White was doing in the area, Reddick said.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey praised the resource officer and school staff for responding quickly.
The potential intruder reportedly resisted arrest and tried to take the school employee’s gun. William Thornton / The Birmingham News / AP
“When a situation arose today outside the Walnut Park school in Gadsden, SRO took immediate action, the teachers in the building followed safety protocols and all the children present were kept out of danger,” she tweeted. “I congratulate all those involved for acting quickly to protect these children.
Schools across the country are on the brink after just two weeks ago, 19 fourth-graders and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old shooter at a primary school in Uwalde, Texas.
With postal wires
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