ROMULUS, Mich. – A 44-year-old man has been charged in a shooting outside Romulus Middle School.
It happened at about 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, at the middle school located on Wick Road, near Detroit Metro Airport.
Police said school security personnel immediately locked down the building and called 911 after spotting the armed man at the front doors.
Prosecutors said Shawntez Marshaun Gregory was about a foot away from the building when he fired a handgun several times but did not shoot at the building itself.
The school was placed on lockdown and Romulus police officers were dispatched to the school for reports of an active shooter.
Video obtained by Local 4 from a witness shows police officers arriving at the scene and ordering the suspect to put his hands up. The man complied, kneeling on the ground before officers took him into custody.
Romulus Community Schools Superintendent Benjamin Edmondson praised the quick response of school staff and law enforcement.
“It could’ve been worse. Far worse,” Edmondson said. “We are not used to this, but I’m prepared for it because of the society we live in. We are prepared for this kind of stuff. It’s disappointing.”
Gregory is a resident of Romulus and has a son who reportedly was attending the middle school at the time of the shooting.
Gregory was charged Thursday, Jan. 8, with false report or threat of terrorism, schools – intentional threat to commit act of violence against school, school employees or students with specific intent to carry out or overt act, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a weapon in a weapons free school zone, reckless use of a firearm, and two counts of felony firearm.
Update: ‘I said good f--king bye’: Man linked to Romulus school case cusses out judge, puts fingers in ears