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Gadsden, Alabama — A “potential intruder” who tried to enter an Alabama elementary school was shot dead after a physical altercation with a school resource officer.
Robert Tyler White, 32, of Bunnlevel, North Carolina, allegedly tried to force his way into Walnut Park Elementary School in Gadsden on Thursday morning, the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office said.
A concerned citizen noticed the man attempting to get inside the school at around 9:30 a.m. and trying to open vehicles in the parking lot, WDSU News reported.
Around 34 students were attending a summer literacy program during the incident. None of the students inside the school were harmed during the incident.
The “potential intruder” tried to open several doors of the school but all of them were locked, Gadsden City Schools Superintendent Tony Reddick told reporters.
“He tried to open at least two doors leading into the school,” Reddick said, CNN reported.
When the school principal realized what was happening, she alerted a school resource officer, who then confronted White.
A physical altercation ensued and White tried to grab the resource officer’s gun. Gadsden police officers arrived and fatally shot White at the scene.
“This is Gadsden. A small-knit community. You don’t think that something like this is going to happen at your school,” Reddick added.
Etowah County Sheriff Jonathan Horton said during a news conference, “Our schools, especially after … what’s happened in Texas, we have one of the largest school resource officers programs in Etowah County, preaching that these doors stay locked. That the individual was not able to make it inside the school.”
Horton praised the resource officer saying, “he did exactly what should be done. He went straight to the threat, he confronted it and he dealt with it. It ended in, unfortunately, the death of the suspect, but that’s the safest alternative. To keep that threat out of that school.”
Reddick said the school trained its staff well and was prepared for such incidents. They also had door locks and cameras in place to keep unauthorized people from entering the school.
The students also underwent safety training this week, the superintendent said, according to USA TODAY.
“The students didn’t have a clue” about White’s attempt to enter the school, Reddick added.
According to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), the suspect did not try to enter the school, but he allegedly tried to “make forcible entry” into a Rainbow City patrol car, ABC News reported.
The potential intruder’s younger brother, Justin, said he saw White last week and learned about the incident from the news. He then called a friend and discovered that his brother was the one who was shot outside the elementary school.
“He’s got some serious mental issues,” Justin told CBS 42.
Justin doesn’t believe White would have done anything to hurt the children.
“He wasn’t some psycho trying to hurt kids,” Justin added. “He was just a messed up individual. He had problems. But he wouldn’t hurt no kids.”
Justin described his brother’s actions as “suicide by cop.”
“I think he was trying to get himself killed,” he added.
Justin said White had attended Walnut Park Elementary as a child.
“He’s been depressed, and I know he was suicidal,” Justin told the outlet. “But he wouldn’t ever hurt nobody else,” he added. 
Photo: Credit: Pixabay / shannonmatthew
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