GADSDEN, Ala. (AP/WIAT) — Authorities say a person who was outside an Alabama elementary school was shot to death by police. 

Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton tells The Gadsden Times there was a report of someone trying to get into either Walnut Park Elementary School or vehicles outside the building on Thursday morning. 

The city runs summer programs for children at the school. Horton says a police officer working as a school resource officer encountered the person, got involved in an altercation and called for backup. 

Other officers responded and the person was shot to death. One officer suffered minor injuries. All the children are safe.

Tony Reddick, Superintendent of Gadsden City Schools, said he received an urgent call from Walnut Park’s principal.

“I got a call from the principal who’s really distraught, and I really couldn’t make out what was happening,” he told News Channel 8 sister station WIAT. “But I knew it was something pretty bad.”

Reddick hurried to the school and when he arrived, the man was already on the ground, shot by law enforcement.

He told WIAT that the school system is vigilant in preparing for events like these. He and the school’s principal, he said, had just participated in a seminar that included school safety training on Monday.