| Antioch High School shooting | |
|---|---|
| Location | Antioch, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Date | January 22, 2025 11:09 a.m. [1] (CST) |
| Target | Students at Antioch High School |
Attack type | |
| Weapon | 9mm Taurus G2C semi-automatic pistol [2] |
| Deaths | 2 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 2 (1 by gunfire) |
| Perpetrator | Solomon Sahmad Charlie Henderson |
| Motive | Under investigation |
On January 22, 2025, a school shooting occurred at Antioch High School in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee, United States. 17-year-old student Solomon Henderson opened fire inside the school's cafeteria, killing one student and injuring another student before he committed suicide. [1]
Antioch High School is a public high school located in Antioch, Tennessee, a neighborhood of Nashville. [1] [3] It currently has over 2,100 students [1] enrolled in grades 9–12 and is one of 19 high schools administered by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. [3]
Prior to the shooting, Henderson went into a school restroom and is believed to have retrieved a weapon there. [1] [4] [5] The handgun was reported to be a 9mm Taurus G2C semi-automatic pistol. [2] [ verification needed ] The shooting began at 11:09 a.m. when Henderson confronted 16-year-old female student Josselin Corea Escalante in the cafeteria and killed her with his handgun. [1] [3] [5] Henderson fired several more shots, then proceeded to shoot himself in the head with the same handgun. [1] [3] Two injuries occurred; one caused by being grazed by a bullet, [5] and another facial injury following a fall. Both of the injured were students. [1] [3] [4] Ten shots in total were fired during the shooting within 17 seconds. Two magazines were recovered, the one inserted having nine 9mm rounds inside and the other having seven. [1] The shooting was livestreamed in part on the service Kick. [1]
The gun used in the shooting was obtained legally in Arizona in 2022 and had never been reported as stolen. [1] Two school resource officers were in the school building but were not in the cafeteria at the time of the shooting. [1] [3] The school did not have metal detectors. [6]
Parents were initially sent to a local hospital to reunite with their children. [1] They were later taken to a designated reunification center. [1] [3] Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools has given a phone number for parents to call about the shooting. [1]
Seventeen-year-old male Solomon Sahmad Charlie Henderson [7] (March 23, 2007 [8] –January 22, 2025) was identified as the perpetrator, now deceased. [1] [3] The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department was investigating writings and social media posts connected to Henderson. [3] [5] In the writings, Henderson praised various mass killers, [5] including the perpetrators of the Christchurch mosque shootings and 2022 Bratislava shooting, [9] along with sharing antisemitic and racist views. [1] [4] [5] [10] A 288-page diary attributed to Henderson expressed a desire to kill people and a fear of being caught by authorities. [10] A separate 51-page document expressed white supremacist and neo-Nazi beliefs, including hatred towards minority groups. Henderson, who was African-American, described himself as a black man who was angry at members of his own race. [4] Henderson was admittedly a frequent user of the imageboard Soyjak Party , and his manifesto contained several memes and jargon originating from that imageboard. [11] [12] He was also active on a forum dedicated to sharing depictions of graphic violence. [13] [14] Police investigators discovered evidence that Henderson and the perpetrator of the Abundant Life Christian School shooting, Natalie "Samantha" Rupnow, were following each other on social media but did not coordinate in their planning of their respective attacks. [1] [15] [5] Henderson was described as quiet by classmates. [4] Notably, Henderson had been suspended for two days after bringing a box cutter to school and threatening another student. He was also scheduled to appear in juvenile court. [16]
Following the release of Henderson's juvenile records in May 2025, it was revealed that child sexual abuse material had been found on his electronic devices in November 2023; police said he downloaded the material from the internet. Henderson was apprehended by police and later released to his parents, under the condition that he would only use the internet for school work. The records also show Henderson was in court the morning of the shooting for a probation violation. He was then dropped off at Antioch High School by his mother shortly afterward. Records from Henderson's time as a student at nearby John F. Kennedy Middle School said that Henderson reportedly told something "troubling" to a teacher and staff found something described as "concerning" on his school laptop. [17] In his online manifesto, Henderson considered targeting his former middle school, saying "Maybe I should set up bombs near JFK Middle School and Elementary school near my house as a diversion. To delay the police." [18]
The footage of the shooting was removed from Kick, and the user who streamed it was banned from the service. [1] [4]
Governor Bill Lee released a statement condemning the incident. Other state officials and members of the Nashville Public School Board released their own statements regarding the incident. [19]
The White House also released a report saying that President Donald Trump was following the situation and offered his sincerest thoughts and prayers. [20]