Teen fatally shoots a female student and himself at Antioch High School in Nashville, police say

Female student killed and another student wounded on January 22, 2025, in shooting in a Nashville high school cafeteria; Police Chief John Drake said the shooter ‘confronted’ the 16-year-old student in the cafeteria and opened fire, killing her.

A female student was killed and another student was wounded on Wednesday (January 22, 2025) in shooting in a Nashville high school cafeteria, police said.

The 17-year-old shooter, who was also a student at Antioch High School, later shot and killed himself with a handgun, Metro Nashville Police spokesperson Don Aaron said during a news conference.

Police Chief John Drake said the shooter “confronted” a 16-year-old female student in the cafeteria and opened fire, killing her. Mr. Drake said police are looking into a motive and whether the students who were shot were targeted.

The male student who was wounded suffered a graze, and was treated and released from the hospital, he said. Another student was taken to a hospital for treatment of a facial injury that happened during a fall, Mr. Aaron said.

There were two school resource officers in the building when the shooting happened around 11 a.m. CDT, Mr. Aaron said. They were not in the immediate vicinity of the cafeteria, and by the time they got down there, the shooting was over and the gunman had killed himself, Mr. Aaron said.

The school has about 2,000 students and is located in Antioch, a neighborhood about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of downtown Nashville.

At a family safety center close to a hospital, officials were helping shocked parents to reunite with their children.