Seventh grade science teacher Jason Seaman, 30, tackled the gunman and was shot. Photo / Supplied
New details have emerged about how a heroic science teacher wrestled a student gunman to the ground and was shot three times after the youngster returned to his classroom from a bathroom break wielding two handguns.
Jason Seaman, 30, was shot three times as he brought the gunman to the ground in his classroom at Noblesville West Middle School on Friday shortly after 9am.
A 13-year-old girl was also shot and was taken to hospital in a critical condition afterwards, reports Daily Mail.
The shooter was arrested shortly afterward Seaman tackled him and he remains in police custody.
The teacher's family have since revealed that he has undergone surgery and is doing "well".
The teenage girl's condition is not known and she has not been identified.
As shots rang out in the school, terrified students hid in closets and sent petrified emails to their parents telling them that they loved them.
Once the suspect was brought into custody, the children were evacuated onto school buses to be taken to the Noblesville West High School where they will be reunited with parents.
There are 1300 students in the school, according to local media, and around 70 teachers. A school resource officer was there but it is not clear where he or she was stationed.
Police will not reveal the shooter's identity nor will they say how they think the gunman got the guns into the school.
It remains unclear who the weapons belonged to and how the student got his hands on him. If he is a seventh grader, he is between 12 or 13.
No charges have yet been filed and police say it could be as late as Tuesday that he may appear in a juvenile court because of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.
One student told The Indy Star that she watched the teacher intervene to save the children's lives after the student pulled out his gun and started firing.
"She kept saying, 'I saw my teacher get shot,'" Jeremy Lovall, the girl's father said.
Kristi Seaman, the wounded teacher's mother, took to Facebook on Friday afternoon to update concerned family members and friends.
"Jason is out of surgery and is doing well. 3 shots - 1 through the abdomen, 1 in the hip & 1 in the forearm.
"PLEASE pray for the student that was also shot," she said.
His brother Jeremy said he was not surprised to learn that it was him who was involved.
"It's not surprising, to be honest. He's not really ever been the person to run away. When the safety of the kids is at hand, it's not surprising to me that he was going to do what he had to do," he told The Indy Star.
He said that his brother was "talking" when he was en route to the hospital and that he had spoken to his wife. Seaman is a father-of-two who has been at the school for four years.
He was previously the defensive end for Southern Illinois.
Parents flocked first to the middle school and then to the high school after being told either by their kids or through local media about the shooting.
One student told Fox59's Dan Spehler that they were in the room when the shooter burst in.
"She confirmed what I heard from another person who lives nearby that this was in a science classroom and that a science teacher may have been the one to literally tackle this kid and swat the gun away from him.
"That is a firsthand account… She described him as a student, and that he shot at someone in the room, and one student was injured.
"And that this science teacher bravely swatted that gun away from the gunman's hands, saving everyone else in that room," he said.
In other classrooms, students hid in closets after hearing the gunman's shots ringing out in the hallways.
One sent an email to their parents which read: "There was a shooter in the building, luckily we were in one of the safest closets in the school, I hope that everyone is alright, I'm still shaking, girls are crying, the officers are here and holding the shooter in custody, this has to be a dream, I don't have my phone, but pick me up in the high school.
"I love you guys."
Another student told local network RTV6 that they armed themselves with 'rakes' and were prepared to fight the shooter if they came into the classroom.
"We all had weapons like rake tools and shovels, because we were in the science room.
"We were ready to defend ourselves," he said.
Well, here's a horrifying scene, as described by a Noblesville West Middle School 7th grader who was barricaded in a closet: "We all had weapons like rake tools and shovels, because we were in the science room. We were ready to defend ourselves.” pic.twitter.com/QtfVOVLUCf
— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) May 25, 2018
Other kids ran out of the building and into a nearby field where they called their parents and asked them to collect them.
Heartbreakingly, one student who survived said afterwards that she had a "gut feeling" a shooter would open fire at their school "eventually".
"I was really nervous for my best friend and my family. I wasn't really surprised because after everything that had gone down I had a feeling it would happen eventually.
"It was a gut feeling and as soon as we got the code yellow, I knew that that was what's going on," the student, who was not named, told The Indy Star.
One woman who has a business nearby and whose nieces and nephews attend the school told WTHR-TV: "They called and said, 'We're running away from the school, we're hiding in a field, we're so scared, can you come get us?'
"They're sixth graders. I don't know how they'll go back to school."
Traumatized parents rushed to the high school to wait for their children to be released to them.
One said she used an app to track her son there and that was the way she knew he was safe.
In an afternoon press conference, an Indiana State Police Lieutenant said: "Here we go again. It's just really, really unfortunate. It is another sad day. Another cotton pickin sad day and it just now happens to be in Indiana."
Bruce Barnes of the Noblesville Police Department added: "It's difficult to find the right words to talk about these sorts of incidents when they occur.
"You never think they're going to happen in your hometown, to your own families."
The school underwent training for an active shooter scenario at the end of March.
It comes exactly a week after 10 people were killed and another 10 were injured in a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas by remorseless teenage gunman Dimitrios Pagourtzis
Governor Eric Holcomb said in a statement: "Speaker Bosma, Pro Tem Long and I are monitoring the situation at Noblesville West Middle School from the air on our return trip to Indianapolis from Europe.
"Approximately 100 state police officers have been made available to work with local responders and will offer all assistance needed.
"Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation."
Vice President Mike Pence tweeted about the incident to say his thoughts and prayers remained with the injured parties.
"Karen and I are praying for the victims of the terrible shooting in Indiana.
"To everyone in the Noblesville community – you are on our hearts and in our prayers.
"Thanks for the swift response by Hoosier law enforcement and first responders."
New York Times analysis: Scrutiny will fall on whether job cuts had an impact.