WAUKESHA — The 17-year-old student who was shot and injured by police at Waukesha South High School on Monday was holding a pellet gun.
Authorities say 11-year police veteran Sergeant Brady Esser responded to the classroom after a School Resource Officer had been told about the gun.
"The student told the SRO that the gun had been pointed at a student's head," said Waukesha Police Captain Dan Baumann.
Authorities say he refused to drop the gun and pointed it at officers, Esser fired three shots.
Police say the 17-year-old suspect told them he brought the gun to school because he was angry with another student. Inside the suspect's backpack was another pellet gun. Both of them, according to police, hard to distinguish from a gun that fires bullets.
"If you look at that muzzle and I know people are going to say stuff about you can tell the difference between a real gun and a pellet gun, you can't. I will get a hundred firearms experts to look at that picture right there and a hundred will say that's a firearm," said Baumann.
The 17-year-old suspect was injured and taken to Children's Wisconsin for treatment. No one else was injured. Police say they also served a search warrant at the teen's home. Inside they say they found more pellet guns and narcotics.
A woman at that residence who identifies herself as the suspect's mother says he is recovering from gunshot wounds to his leg, wrist, and underarm. She says he recently returned home from foster care. She expects once he is released that he will be taken to jail.
Waukesha Police say the teen will be taken to jail and charged when he is released from the hospital. They say that he could be possibly charged as an adult with several felonies.
