The Courier-Journal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville Metro Police confirmed that one student suffered non life-threatening injuries in a shooting at Fern Creek High School — and police were searching for the shooter as of 3 p.m. Tuesday.

MetroSafe dispatchers confirmed the report just after 1 p.m. Tuesday. Police say the shooter fled the scene but would not say whether they were looking for a student, or whether the victim was an intended target or a random victim.

Amid a heavy police presence, including a Louisville Emergency Command Center, authorities said parents had been been notified and were gathering at a nearby park to pick up children, the nearby streets quickly filling with cars full of worried parents.

This is every parent's nightmare," said Jefferson County school board member Chris Brady. "This is one of these days you wish would never come."

Students were being ushered to a nearby park or ball field. Video showed an ambulance leaving the scene and students exiting with hands on their heads. Meantime, police with heavy weapons and helmets could be seen searching nearby wooded areas.

Jefferson County Public Schools officials did not immediately confirm what happened but promised updates. JCPS said parents should pick kids up at Fern Creek Park behind school, taking Bardstown Road as other routes were blocked.

Officials said they would provide buses home for students once police hand over control of the school, but it wasn't clear when that would be.

"It is a frightening scenario for any school or parent to have a situation like this to occur during the school day," according to an email to parents from Fern Creek High Principal Nathan Meyer. "All students and teachers remained safely in their classrooms until the building was thoroughly searched and secured by local law enforcement."

Apparently the shooting was contained to one incident. At the scene, Jefferson County Public Schools spokesman Ben Jackey called the incident "senseless" and "unacceptable."

"This cannot happen in our schools," he said.

The mother of a female senior student said just after lunch, students ran down stairs screaming that shots fired. She said they ran into classroom to hide. Another parent said her daughter was texting her from her hiding spot inside the school as SWAT teams searched room by room.

Nearby, at St. Gabriel the Archangel Elementary School, children were brought inside from recess and activities upon hearing of the shooting, said Cecelia Price, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Louisville. But dismissal was planned as usual.

"There are some parents who are police officers assisting with dismissal that will take place at the normal time at 2:40 pm," she said.

Fern Creek Elementary had also been locked down because of the shooting but would also dismiss normally.

The shooting victim had been taken to University Hospital and was reportedly reunited with his family. The exact extent of the injuries wasn't clear Tuesday afternoon.