On Wednesday, January 23, 2025, a 17-year-old child opened fire at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee. This is reportedly the first school shooting of the year and has left two students injured and two dead, including the shooter, who was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Metro Nashville Police identified the shooter as 17-year-old Solomon Henderson, who opened fire in a cafeteria, killing Josselin Corea Escalante before turning the gun on himself. Local law enforcement is currently investigating and attempting to find a motive. They are unsure whether it was a targeted attack or not.ย
Events of the Shooting
Nashville Police Chief John Drake reported that the shooter approached the 16-year-old girl, Josselin Corea Escalante, in the Antioch High School cafeteria to confront her. What he was confronting her about is still unknown, but his recent posts on social media are leading the police closer to his motive. Senior Brandi Lemons of Antioch High School recalled her moments in the cafeteria and shared them with CNN. She remembered hearing a popping sound while she was in line to buy lunch. Three more pops rang out, and she said, โEverybody started running, and I ran to the left side of the cafeteria.โย
Brandi said several students were rushing to climb over the milk counter to reach the back door of the cafeteria. She assisted many who were getting caught or unable to get over. She said, โHonestly, I decided to help people before I helped myself because I know if I were struggling to get out, I would want somebody to help me.โ
Eventually, the shooter ran over to where they were all hiding out, and she came face to face with him. She claimed she did not recognize him and thought that was her final moment. Instead, the shooter turned the gun on himself and left all those students traumatized. She and the rest of the students escaped out the door after.ย
Antioch High School Shooting Victims
The injured Antioch High School students have not been named. One is a 17-year-old boy who suffered a graze wound to the arm, and the other student suffered a facial injury but not due to a bullet. They have been treated and released since. Unfortunately, one student was not so lucky, and she died at the scene.
Josselin Corea Escalante was described as kind and loving by her family. She was only 16 years old and did not deserve to have her life taken from her. She leaves behind a devastated father who reported to station WTVF, โEvery day I told her how much I loved her.โ When she left for school that day, he never in a million years would expect her not to return home. He said, โItโs not fair.โ
Antioch High School has roughly 2,000 students enrolled. Many were present that day. While there might only be a few students who physically suffered from this tragedy, the survivors will forever be mentally scarred. The entire community is heartbroken. At a vigil in an Antioch Church, Nashville Mayor Freddie OโConnell said, โWe grieve together tonight as a city. We responded together earlier today. We have to respond tomorrow amidst the chaos. We feel frustration and anguish. We will heal together. Our communities deserve better. I have two daughters; they should be safe and feel safe.โ
The Shooterโs Online Diary
NewsChannel 5 Investigates is currently reviewing the online diary supposedly kept by Antioch High School shooter Solomon Henderson. In his 288-page diary, there are many disturbing entries and several photos of himself. With the first entry on October 18, he expresses his darkest thoughts and plots how to carry out a mass killing. On January 21, 2025, he wrote, โTomorrow is the day.โ The entry continues, โI was planning on Thursday, but I need to speed things up. I donโt have a lot of time. Holy sh*t, Iโm nervous, scared, and excited at the same time.โ His entries gradually spiral down until the final one is a selfie captioned, โ4 hours to go.โย
A Call to Action
Escalanteโs family is calling for change and requesting more security measures be taken in schools, especially Antioch High School. Parents and families are justified in feeling apprehensive about sending their children to school. The children also have a right to be scared when they step inside, but this should not be the case. The United States sees more mass shootings than any other country, and most of them take place in schools. Something has to change. We have been through enough mass shootings that we should have seen action taken by this point.ย
MNPS Director Dr. Adrienne Battle announced that Antioch High School will be closed for the remainder of the week. She said, โToday, we lost students in a tragic incident, forever changing the lives of the families and those who knew them.โ She continued, โI want to thank the school staff who quickly followed emergency protocols, potentially stopping others from being harmed.โ On Wednesday night, the Antioch community hosted a vigil on campus in memory of Escalante.
