Florida school police shoot man who tried to enter elementary school with ax: Report

School police in Florida on Friday shot a man who reportedly tried to enter a local elementary school wielding what witnesses claimed was a large ax.

Duvall County Schools Superintendent Diana Greene told WJXT 4 that a man approached Ruth N. Upson Elementary School on Friday afternoon and tried to gain entrance; the school went into lockdown, after which the man left the campus. 

School district Police Chief Greg Burton told the news network that district police encountered the man at a nearby church. "As the subject came towards one of the police officers, the officers gave him verbal warnings to drop the ax, kept giving him verbal warnings to drop the ax," Burton said.

Police subsequently shot the suspect; he was reportedly taken to the hospital in critical condition. 

A local witness said he observed the man walk by with the ax, after which he head "three gun shots and a lot of commotion after that."