Make wishtv.com your home page

Student calls 911 as shooter opens fire in Ohio school

MADISON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WDTN) – Monday was a scary day for students, staff, parents and law enforcement who are trained to stop active shooting situations.

According to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio, 14-year-old James Austin Hancock, a student at Madison Junior Senior High School, opened fire inside the school’s cafeteria. Fellow students immediately called 911.Caller: “Hello? I’m at Madison High School. There’s a shooting. He has a gun and he started shooting people.” 

Authorities got the first call of a gunman inside the school at 11:15 a.m.

You can sense the sheer panic in the caller’s cry for help as he runs for safety.

The dispatcher, asks for critical information.Dispatch: “How many people did he shoot?”Caller: “I’m not sure. He just pulled out his gun and started shooting.”

The caller was able to identify the person behind the gun as junior high student, James Austin Hancock.

According to Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, Hancock fled after firing several rounds.

“He ran out of the building, ran up on the hill in front of the school and it appears that’s where he got rid of his handgun. At that point he kept running,” said Sheriff Jones.

Roughly 15 minutes passed from when the first shots were fired and the suspect was caught, according to authorities.

All four students who suffered injures from the gunfire are expected to make full recoveries.

“You always hear of these shootings in other places. You don’t think the odds are against it happening here. There’s over three thousand sheriff’s offices in the United States, thousands of police departments, thousands of school districts. They always happen somewhere else,” Sheriff Jones said.

Given the severity of Hancock’s charges, which are attempted murder, felonious assault, inducing panic and making terroristic threats, a Butler County sergeant told 2NEWS it’s highly possible he’ll have his preliminary hearing Tuesday morning in Butler County court.

Crime Map
Use Search Bars Above To Search Crime Data