When this teacher heard gunshots he ran towards the shooter—and may have saved countless lives

“I was playing basketball in the gym with about 20 other kids and there was a loud bang,” said student Kyle Hemphill. “About 10 kids went and looked out the door and immediately just started sprinting out the back and I just started sprinting right after them.”

Mackenzie Kennedy said the first shot sounded like a table slamming into the floor.

“Then we heard the second shot and I turned around to see a bunch of students trampling at me, so we ran with them.”

As kids ran from the gunfire, a teacher ran toward it. Police and school officials say government teacher Brady Olson raced toward the 16-year-old shooter, tackling him before any more shots were fired.  Junior Darren Sroor said he saw the shooter and watch Olson run toward him.

“It looked like he had a revolver in his hand, then [I saw] Mr. Olson approaching him. By then I was running through the band room,” said Sroor.

Sophomore Johnny Corilius saw the take-down. ” We looked through the window and saw Mr. Olson tackle him and the shooter was on the ground,” described Corilius. “He tackled him just in time, before he had a chance to shoot any other shots.” added Corilius.

Olson was quickly joined by the school’s principal and a Lacey police officer assigned to the campus, who handcuffed the boy. No one was hit by gunfire and no students or staff members were injured.

Olson teaches civics and AP government classes at the school, he’s in his ninth year at North Thurston High School.

“I think that’s a heroic thing. No one was doing anything, so he stopped the kid from shooting other people, ” said student Devin Santos.

Word of the shooting spread quickly as kids were ordered into lockdown.

“We were just running outside and one of the teacher was like, oh, we’re having a lockdown, you have to come inside the classroom,” said Daniel Lemoine. Within minutes students were herded out of the school and onto a football field while parents rushed to pick them up.

Police said after his arrest  the teenage suspect told detectives he fired the shots into a gym floor and then the school’s ceiling deliberately to avoid hurting any other kids at the school.

“He indicated to detectives his intent was not to hurt anybody,” said Lacey police Cmdr. Jim Mack. Asked if the teenager intended to commit suicide by cop Mack said, “We do believe that that was some of it, yes. That he wanted the school resource officer to shoot him.”

School officials say the suspected shooter is new to the school who had moved to the area from Mt. Rainier High School in Des Moines about a month ago.  Police said he claimed he had been bullied since he came to North Thurston high.

Investigators searched the teen’s apartment and took computers and cellphones as they try to find a motive. The weapon the gunman brought to school belonged to his parents, according to police. The teen’s parents did not know the teen took it, police said.

The suspect was booked into the Thurston County Juvenile Detention Center and is expected in Thurston County Juvenile Court on Tuesday.