Staff member injured, suspect dead after shooting at Virginia elementary school

A suspected shooter forced his way into a Virginia elementary school on Wednesday, Sept. 2, where he shot and wounded a staffer before fatally shooting himself, local authorities said.

Anthony Isaac Ignatiadis-Isabelle, 19, forced his way into Westwood Hills Elementary School in Waynesboro, Virginia, where he injured a woman who worked at the school, Waynesboro Police Chief David Shaw told reporters Wednesday afternoon. Authorities arriving at the school said they discovered Ignatiadis-Isabelle inside the school library dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

"Today is the day every school system hopes they never have to deal with," said Waynesboro Public Schools Superintendent Jeffrey Cassell, tearing up as he spoke at a news conference. But "our safety and security protocols and procedures worked."

Cassell confirmed no students were injured in the incident and no students were in the library at the time. He thanked school staff for their quick response to the suspected shooter, adding that the incident came after two lockdown drills within the preceding 20 school days.

Westwood Hills is located in Waynesboro, a city of about 20,000 in central Virginia located 20 miles west of Charlottesville.

Shaw said police were sent to the school after being alerted at 9:12…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/