MATTOON, Ill.– Officials praised the quick reaction of a high school teacher who subdued a gun-wielding student inside the Mattoon High School cafeteria after “numerous rounds” were fired Wednesday morning, injuring at least two students.

Mattoon Police Chief Jeff Branson cited the teacher’s intervention as being pivotal in the quick response.

“She’s been trained obviously, but in these scenarios, you just don’t know what’s going to happen until it happens,” Branson said during a press conference Wednesday night. “Had the teacher not responded as quickly as she had I think the situation would have been a lot different.”

Branson said two students were injured during the shooting in the cafeteria. Officials immediately attended to one of them.

“Officers located another student in the parking lot of the school and attention was given to him by the school nurse and later transported to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center by medical personnel,” said Branson. “I was advised on scene by the nurse that he was in stable condition, and had received what appeared to be, for sure, one gunshot, potentially two gunshot wounds.”

Mattoon Schools Superintendent Larry Lilly said that just before the press conference he had visited the other student at the hospital.

“With permission from his father, I can share his son is smiling, in stable condition, in good spirits and joked about catching some slack on his grades,” said Lilly.

According to the superintendent, the shooting occurred around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Branson added that Mattoon police were notified at 11:32 a.m. and upon arrival found the suspected shooter in the school resource officer’s custody. 

“The School Resource Officers and school officials headed to the cafeteria where they heard shots fired,” the Mattoon Community Unit School District 2 said in a release. “The suspect fired shots in the school cafeteria, before he was subdued and disarmed.”

Witnesses describe chaos in and outside the school after the shots rang out.

“About 11:30 a.m. we saw five police cars go flying by and within a minute we heard kids screaming and running past this way and past that way,” said Mike Houser, a Mattoon business owner. “Then we walked out and started trying to calm the kids and kind of find out what happened. They said they were told to go to Riddle, so we started telling all the kids we saw go to Riddle.”

Houser later learned his son, MHS junior Dylan Sanders, was in the cafeteria when the shooting occurred.

“Our son came here from the high school and he said he was three or four feet from the shooter,” added Houser. “He said he couldn’t see because there was a big concrete pillar in between. He heard the shots and they all just scattered.”

Mattoon High School student Colby Filipiak heard students running and yelling as they passed by his classroom door. The 16-year-old said that amidst the confusion his teacher told everyone to run out of the building, so they quickly followed others outside.

“We probably ran four or five blocks and hid in a cornfield,” said Filipiak. “Our goal was to go as far away from the school and away from the street and open areas as we could.”

He said although he didn’t realize why they were escaping at first, it became more frightening once he realized. Once to safely in the cornfield, he called his dad, who picked him up within minutes.

Mattoon school officials say the high school will be open on Thursday morning to provide students access to counselors, clergy, and police officers for “comfort and counseling.”

The school district will excuse any absences for families who wish to keep their children home. 

More details on the shooting were expected Wednesday evening at a joint press conference.

Stewart and Schabbing write for the Effingham, Illinois, Daily News. The Associated Press contributed to this report.