Group of adults force way into Springfield high school, one shot fired; Conn. man arrested, others sought

A group of adults were involved in an altercation outside of a high school in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Monday, when one of them allegedly forced their way inside and fired a shot inside the school hallway.

Springfield police say they responded to the High School of Science and Technology around 2:10 p.m. after a school resource officer reported a large disturbance.

According to police, at least four people, including one female student, were outside the school when a teacher cracked the door telling them to leave. At that point, one of the suspects allegedly grabbed the handle, opened the door and the group pushed their way inside the school.

One suspect had a firearm, struck a victim, and fired one shot from with the school hallway, through a window outside, police said.

No one was hit, and no one was seriously injured.

Josiah Livingston, 22, of Hartford, Connecticut, was detained at the scene and taken into custody Monday for assault and battery. He was held on $25,000 bail. Others fled the scene.

According to police, the shooting suspect has not been arrested yet. Mayor Domenic Sarno said additional suspects are being sought and that a vehicle was recovered.

Police and city officials held a press conference Tuesday to address the critical incident at the high school. The mayor said they are taking the incident very seriously, noting they're thankful nobody was hurt, or worse.

He noted that the adults came into the high school "to perpetrate a negative activity."

"You see throughout the country some tragic things that have been occurring, knock on wood that we've been proactive and have not faced those situations except for yesterday," he said, commending police and high school staff for their response to what occurred.

He highlighted the quick action of the school resource officers and security camera system, which he said are only used in these type of emergency situations and allow police to pinpoint immediately where they need to go.

"Unlike the tragedy that occurred, and god rest their souls, in Uvalde, Texas, where public safety officials and the police department waited 45 minutes to enter, SPD moved in immediately to quell that situation," he said. "This situation could have been tremendously worse if that shooter got loose in the school and indiscriminately started shooting at people."

Springfield Superintendent Dan Warwick commended school staff and police, saying their heroic response helped them avert a catastrophe.

The mayor added that counseling has been made available, as they want to get back to normalcy as quickly as possible, and for students and their families to feel safe.

The incident created a "frenzy" online, and Sarno and others speaking Tuesday cautioned against wild information circulating on social media.

"Social media forced us to come out with a statement a little bit before we liked to," Police Superintendent Cheryl Clapprood said. "As you can imagine, it was a chaotic scene...Because of social media and someone live streaming on Facebook, and misinformation, we couldn't let that continue on...so we came out with the statement as quick as we could."

Clapprood went on to say, "we know who's responsible, we know why...we'll bring appropriate charges."

"I thank god that no one else got hurt. And I thank god that my student resource officers are trained properly. And I'm very thankful for the camera system so we know exactly where to go," she said.

The police supt. also discussed the fight in the hallway, saying "some haymakers" were being thrown. She said a male student was pistol-whipped during the confrontation. Then, the gun either went off accidentally, or intentionally, and shattered a window in the hallway.

Nobody was the target of the shooting, she said.

She further explained that students inside the school who were fighting, called for people outside, and once those adults gained access to the school, there was a very serious incident on their hands.

Additional camera footage needs reviewed, she said, noting the investigation is active and ongoing.