Gunman wielded AK-47 inside Georgia school; no one injured

ATLANTA (CNN) -- A gunman who opened fire at a Georgia elementary school on Tuesday was armed with an AK-47 "and a number of other weapons," police said.

The shooter barricaded himself in the school's front office with employees before eventually surrendering to police, DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander told reporters.

No one was injured, authorities said. Police are investigating whether a vehicle the shooter parked outside the school contained explosives, Alexander said.

Concerns about possible explosives in the vehicle forced SWAT teams to evacuate students from the school through an escape route, Alexander said. Police cut a hole in a fence and led students through a yard to buses waiting on a nearby street, he said.

"This was a very unusual situation where we had to get the kids away from any possible explosives," Alexander said.

The shooter fired approximately six shots from inside the school toward officers as they approached outside, Alexander said, and police returned fire.

The suspect is approximately 19 years old and has been detained, Alexander said. It is unclear whether he had any connection with the school, which is located about seven miles east of downtown Atlanta.

As the standoff unfolded, a caller told CNN affiliate WSB's assignment desk that she was in the school office with a gunman.

The man had a message he wanted the woman to share with the local television station, assignment editor Lacey LeCroy said, describing the conversation during WSB's newscast Tuesday evening.

"She said he told her to tell me he was not afraid to die," LeCroy said.

The gunman also threatened to harm police, the woman said, according to LeCroy.

Later, LeCroy heard gunshots crack over the television station's phone line. The woman in the school office wasn't sure who had fired, LeCroy said.

Students from the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy reunited with their parents at a nearby shopping center Tuesday afternoon. The children smiled and waved and parents cheered as each school bus arrived with students aboard.

"Everybody's safe," DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Michael Thurmond said.

"This thing came out for the best," said Dale Holmes, DeKalb County's assistant police chief. "Thank God no one was hurt -- not even the suspect."

Teachers and administrators guided the students out to a lawn outside the school's gym, where they remained while investigators combed the school to make sure no other threat remained. Yellow crime scene tape marked part of a parking lot and a wall of the school.