Panic struck the town of about five-thousand people as word spread of a shooting at its high school. Initial reports said there were two shooters, and one remained on the loose. That turned out to be false, but the day ended up confirming many of the town’s worst fears. The high school is just a few blocks from Chardon’s bucolic town square. Chardon Police Chief Tim McKenna says his department and the Geauga County Sheriffs Department were the first on the scene after receiving several calls about shots being fired.

McKenna:  “The first team of officers went in and it was determined that the student had run from the building, chased by a teacher. Knowing that we got the officers in right away, after that EMS followed in the door to take care of the victims and we got them off to the hospital.”

Two victims were flown by helicopter to the Cleveland Clinic’s Hillcrest hospital. The other three went to Cleveland’s MetroHealth Medical Center, which has a high-level trauma department to deal with the regions’ most serious injuries. By noon, MetroHealth affirmed that one of the students had died. Meanwhile, Geauga County Sheriff Daniel McClelland says police quickly turned to finding the suspect.

McClelland:  “A perimeter was set up to ensure the suspect didn’t come back into the building, our K-9 unit was brought in and tracking commenced and the suspect was apprehended some distance from the school, he had fled on foot.”

The high school and the nearby middle school remained on lock-down until the all clear was given. Afterwards, a traffic jam developed on the 2 lane street outside the schools as parents arrived to take their children home. 

Chardon High senior Kimberly Addleman was there with her grandmother to pick up her younger brother and sister at the middle school. 

Addleman was home sick when the shooting started. But she got a text message from a friend who was there, telling her about the gunfire and that the school was in lockdown. Addleman says she knows the suspected gunman.

Addlman:  “It’s just insane, and then later she texted me, there were hugh piles of blood everywhere, and I never thought, first of all, that the person who did it would do it. And I never figured that, if I’d been in school today I’d have been there in the cafeteria.”

Addleman’s grandmother Cindy Maloney says the shooting will mean big changes in this small community.

Maloney:  “This is going to be horrible, because as the national news is talking about, this is the last place you expect this to happen. And actually, my grandkids moved to Chardon to go to the schools because it was one of the safest ones. They came from Painesville.”

Addleman:  “Up until now there’s never been security, in the 4 years I’ve been in school there have only been 3 or 4 fights, it’s not a violent school. So for this to happen is really insane, he doesn’t even go to my school, he just waits to get transferred to another one.”

Maloney:  “So that’s how it’s going to have to be, they’re going to have to beef it up like every place else.”

The Chardon schools had practiced drills for responding to a shooter in one of its buildings. School Superintendent Joe Bergant says it’s unfortunate the procedure had to be used, but he praised his staff for their quick action which may have prevented a worse tragedy.