Expelled Student Shows Up at Graduation Rehearsal With Gun

A recently expelled student in Illinois is in custody after he opened fire near the gym of his former school, where seniors at Dixon High were gathered for graduation practice, at around 8am Wednesday. The school’s resource officer, Mark Dallas, saw the armed suspect and confronted him; the suspect allegedly fired on him several times, the AP reports. Dallas chased the suspect away and returned fire; the suspect was shot, but no one else, including Dallas, was injured, the Chicago Tribune reports. Multiple sources have identified the alleged shooter as Matt Milby, 19, reports Sauk Valley Media. He received non-life-threatening injuries.

The Dixon police chief credited Dallas with saving "countless lives." "We're lucky the officer was there," said City Administrator Danny Langloss, the father of a student who was in the gym. Dixon Mayor Liandro Arellanno Jr. expressed gratitude for the outcome and praised the officer. “A lot of things went right today when a great many of them could have (gone) wrong," he said. "Things could have gone much worse.” Dixon Police Department created the resource officer position in 2000 to help prevent this type of occurrence. Per USA Today, agents from the ATF’s Chicago and Rockford, Ill., offices have been sent to Dixon to assist with the investigation. (More school shooting stories.)