One Injured, Shooter In Custody In ‘Intentional’ Shooting At Forest High School In Ocala

Updated, 5:18 p.m.: Marion County Sheriff’s Office has identified the shooter as 19-year-old former student Sky Bouche.

Updated, 1:15 p.m.: Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods hosted a press conference to provide updates shortly before noon. Woods called the shooting by the suspect, a 19-year-old non-student, “intentional.”

At 8:39 a.m., school resource officer Jim Long said he heard a loud bang. And by 8:42, Long had taken the shooter into custody.

The sheriff’s office said the suspect, whose name has not yet been released, was unharmed and did not offer any resistance.

The victim, a 17-year-old student, was found with non-life threatening injuries. Woods said law enforcement is unsure as to whether or not the victim was a target.

Woods said he wants to ensure that all Marion County schools will be safe today. Additional law enforcement is present and patrolling on all campuses across the county for the entire day.

“Any threat we will not ignore or any rumor we will no take for granted, we will immediately respond and act accordingly,” he said.

 

Updated, 11:30 a.m.: Marion County School District has arranged for parent pickup of Forest High School students at nearby First Baptist Church on Maricamp Road.

I’m at First Baptist Church in Ocala, where parents are picking their kids up after the Forest High incident this morning. Heavy police presence and frustrated parents @WUFTNews pic.twitter.com/5MAjhkbGEv

— Grayson Jarvis (@JarvisWeather) April 20, 2018

Other schools in the district remain open Friday but are on “code yellow.” Around 11 a.m., there was a false alarm at West Port High School:

I am told that the police sped away to respond to the threat of a gun at West Port High School but am now being told it was a false alarm @WUFTNews

— Mary Grace Scully (@marygscully) April 20, 2018

BE ADVISED: ANY REPORTS OF A THREAT AT WEST PORT HIGH SCHOOL ARE FALSE.

— Ocala Police Dept (@ocalapd) April 20, 2018

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has also announced how the shooter was brought into custody:

The PIO for @MCSOFlorida says the Forest High School resource officer was the one who disabled the threat this morning @WUFTNews

— Mary Grace Scully (@marygscully) April 20, 2018

Original story, 9:16 a.m.: There was a shooting Friday morning at Forest High School southeast of Ocala.

One person is injured, and Ocala police say the shooter is in custody. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office and Ocala police are responding.

The school board will notify parents the plan for next week on whether the school will be open, and this morning the sheriff’s office posted this update to Facebook: