It is a such heart-wrenching tragedy to hear about an Antioch High School student initiating an incident within a Nashville, Tennessee campus; it took place at 11:09 am. Solomon Henderson shot his target-a classmate who was just beginning to see life and pursue a good dream. The tragic morning began on the bright morning of 22nd January, year 2025, where many young children became helpless eyewitnesses in that very crowded cafeteria at school. It happened because the accused suddenly resorted to guns; first, it killed the teenager and then his master too. One of the students was grazed and treated at a nearby hospital while a fourth sustained a facial injury in the resultant stampede.
The whole scene turned into chaos in a matter of moments. Students who had been chatting over lunch were plunged into terror with shots ringing out. Metro Nashville Police Department and school resource officers quickly responded, but the shooting was over by the time they arrived. The school was immediately put on lockdown, with students taking shelter in classrooms as police secured the building. Parents and guardians, desperate for answers, were directed to a reunification site established at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital.
The emotional impact on students, parents, and staff has been immense.
Dajuan Bernard’s son is a 10th grader in Antioch High School, who called him immediately after the incident: “He was a little startled but said he was okay. “It’s petrifying, thinking this could have happened at his school.” Samantha Dickerson said, another parent who, as punishment, had taken away her son’s phone remembered the torture of waiting to hear from him. “When finally I did, I just collapsed and started crying.”
From shock, grief, to frustration, different feelings have spilled out from all community leaders down to the residents. “This world is so crazy-it can happen anywhere,” said Fonda Abner, whose granddaughter attends this school. Yet again, in the Antioch community with scars still fresh from recent gun violence, residents are plunged once again into another senseless nightmare.
Antioch High School, home to nearly 2,000 students, will not reopen this week.
MNPS Superintendent Adrienne Battle said grief counseling services are available at the Southeast Community Center for anyone affected. “Unfortunately, even with the range of safety measures we’ve implemented, this tragedy could not be prevented,” she said. Discussions about adding stationary metal detectors and other technologies to bolster security are now back on the table. Authorities now try to investigate what motivated Henderson, tracing back online activities and social media posts by him that included some disturbing content. Though his motive remains unclear for now, this incident refueled debates on gun control in Tennessee, where school shootings have happened and a divided stance on gun legislation prevails.
The tragedy comes nearly two years after six lives were taken in the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville. The incident at the time saw wide calls for tighter gun laws. Yet since then, Tennessee lawmakers have only really pushed for tighter school security – and not any stronger restrictions on firearms. “We must do better,” said State Representative Shaundelle Brooks, whose son was among those killed in the 2018 Waffle House shooting. “Our communities cannot continue to endure this level of violence.” As the investigation unfolds, the Antioch community has united in remembering the victims. United Family Fellowship, a church in Antioch, hosted a vigil last night that hundreds attended, mourning together and finding support in one another. Students and staff have taken flowers and handwritten notes to the front of the school for a makeshift memorial to Josselin Corea Escalante. “She was so full of life,” a classmate remembered. “This shouldn’t have happened to her.”
