CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – A 19-year-old man forced his way into Westwood Hills Elementary School in Waynesboro on Wednesday, shooting a school staffer before fatally shooting himself. 

“Today is the day every school system hopes they never have to deal with,” an emotional Waynesboro School Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Cassell said during a media briefing. “Our safety and security protocols and procedures worked. Staff notified law enforcement immediately and our school executed lockdown procedures. Every student and staff member is safe and returned home to their families.”

Anthony I. Ignatiadis-Isabelle of Augusta County, who was not believed to be a student in the school system, forced his way into the school at 9:12 a.m., Waynesboro Police Chief David Shaw said during a briefing Thursday afternoon. 

One adult staff member suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound and has been treated and released. 

Ignatiadis-Isabelle was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the school’s library. No students were in the library at the time of the incident.

Waynesboro Police does have school resource officers who work in WPS schools. It is unclear if one was at Westwood Hills on Wednesday morning.

Shaw and Cassell praised the response of school staff and law enforcement.

“Everybody today performed exactly how they’re trained to do,” Shaw said. “These are situations across all professions we train for. We hope we never have to do it.”

Westwood Hills will be closed Thursday. Other WPS schools will be open with an additional police presence. Shaw said there is no current threat to any of the WPS schools.

Resources will be available to WPS students, staff and faculty as they deal with the aftermath of the shooting.