Students leaving McNair Elementary School in the South Austin neighborhood carried science projects and walked hand-in-hand with staff members who ushered them out a side entrance to waiting parents and buses Thursday after a Chicago Public Schools employee was killed outside the school's main entrance.



The school was locked down, and parents received calls informing them of the shooting and that nobody would be allowed in or out of the school until dismissal at 2:30 p.m.



Detectives and forensics investigators worked quickly to remove the body before school let out. A half-hour after the shooting, an officer brought a blanket out of the school and walked toward the body but returned the blanket when another officer covered the victim in a blue sheet. Students could be seen looking out of the windows.



The CPS employee was shot about 12:30 p.m. and died slumped over a curb across the street. He was identified as Denzel Thornton, 25, of the 800 block of West Buena Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood, the Cook County medical examiner's office said.