CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Tenn. — Two sixth graders are in custody after Cumberland County law enforcement uncovered their plan to shoot and kill their classmates, teachers and themselves at South Cumberland Elementary in Crossville.
Law enforcement there said the students were plotting the attack for the last day of the school year.
"You get that deep kick in your stomach like wow, this could, this is real," said Sheriff Casey Cox.
Cox said that won't happen thanks to the school resource officer, who heard a rumor of a possible "hit list" and acted on it.
He is urging people that if they see something say something, because this instance showed that that method works.
"In today's society, you can't take nothing for granted," said Cox.
Those students are being held in a juvenile detention facility.
"You're seeing a lot more middle schoolers that are becoming active shooters, or are wanting to and the plot being thwarted as we saw in Crossville," said Matt Estridge, COO and lead instructor for the L.I.V.E. active shooter training program.
Estridge is also a former anti-terrorism agent and is making it his mission to prevent active shootings, especially in schools.
"Active shooters are a form of terrorism," he said. "It's domestic terrorism in this case."
Estridge said to stop these shootings, there has to be a lot of security layers, people need to know how to protect themselves, and work to identify potential shooters before it's too late.
"Someone is normally happy-go-lucky, for example, and all of a sudden they're very cold," said Estridge. "Or if you know a child has been abused at home physically or doesn't have great mentoring and all of a sudden they take a real attraction to firearms."
He also works to train people not just to hide if there's an active shooter, but to escape, and if possible, fight back even if unarmed.
"This is a new war and the old security assessments and emergency action plans aren't gonna work," said Estridge. "And locking down and hiding isn't gonna work because it never has worked."
Those two students have been charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder.
There was a hearing Monday morning and a judge determined the students would remain in juvenile custody.
Their parents are cooperating in the investigation.