A police school resource officer is being lauded as a hero for intervening when a former student at Dixon, Il., High School opened fire Wednesday morning near the school gym where students were gathered for a graduation rehearsal, the Chicago Tribune reports. Fifteen-year police veteran Mark Dallas shot and injured the gunman after the suspect fired at the officer while trying to flee, police said. The suspect, 19-year-old former student Matthew Milby, was taken into custody and no one else was injured in the gunfire exchange.
Authorities said the incident began about 8 a.m. when the suspect “fired several shots” near the gym. Dallas, who has worked as a school resource officer for five years, rushed to the area. He confronted the suspect, who then fled and with the officer in pursuit, fired several shots at Dallas but did not strike him, police Chief Steven Howell said. The officer returned fire and struck the suspect, who was then taken into custody, Howell said. “A lot of things went right today when a great many of them could have (gone) wrong,” Dixon Mayor Liandro Arellano Jr. said. “Things could have gone much worse.” A woman who identified herself as the gunman’s mother told reporters, “My son has been very, very sad for a long time.” She said her son was bullied and ostracized at school, and was beaten up in October.