An artificial intelligence-powered weapon detection system failed to pick up the handgun a 17-year-old Nashville, Tennessee, student used in a school shooting Wednesday that killed a 16-year-old girl, officials said.
The software, called Omnilert, failed to detect the gun because of where cameras were in Antioch High School, Metro Nashville Public Schools spokesperson Sean Braisted said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
But the system was activated by police brandishing their weapons during the response to the shooting, Braisted said.
Omnilert connects to the school’s existing network of cameras and uses AI technology to detect weapons, he said, but “in this instance, based on the shooter’s location in proximity to the cameras, it wasn’t close enough to get an accurate read and to activate that alarm.”