(Updated as of 01/24/2025 @ 2 p.m.)
The Nashville community of Antioch High School is in mourning after a student shot and killed Josselin Corea Escalante, 16, before turning the gun on himself.
Officials confirmed 17-year-old Solomon Henderson carried out the attack on Jan. 22, 2025, marking the first school shooting of 2025, according to Education Week. As the investigation into what led Henderson to commit the violent act continues, here is everything we know about him.
Alleged Inspiration
Henderson shockingly named Candace Owens, the controversial and conservative Black pundit, as one of his many inspirations. “Candace Owens has influenced me above all each time she spoke,” he wrote in his alleged manifesto obtained by TMZ. “I was stunned by her insights and her own views helped push me further and further into the belief of violence over the Jewish question,” Henderson continued. Additionally, the teen listed Kanye West and others for teaching him about “violence and extremism.”
The 17-year-old’s writings also showed photos of the 28-year-old Covenant School shooter, who killed three children and three staff members in 2023. Other school shooters, Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow and Colt Gray, were also mentioned as Henderson’s inspiration, according to CNN.
The gun he used was purchased in Arizona in 2022, according to ABC News, and was not reported stolen.
Incel Forums
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Henderson was part of at least one “incel” forum. Incels are a community of men who deem themselves unattractive to women. These men gather online and share their experiences and beliefs in this “safe space.”
“What happens on the incel forums … is that people of color are told the only reason they’re incels is because of their color and so it pushes them toward other extreme ideology that he apparently took on,” ADL representative Carla Hill told the New York Post. The ADL believes Henderson began picking up radical beliefs about himself and others while in these forums.
Anti-Blackness
The teen’s writings obtained by WTVF showed multiple layouts of the high school, photos of a handgun, and cartridges to reload the weapon. The shooting was partially live streamed by Henderson and posted to the Australian streaming platform, Kick.
But perhaps the most shocking findings were that of a social media account linked to Henderson. Hill, the senior director of investigative research at ADL, continued to the Post saying Henderson “picked up antisemitism, he posted a lot of anti-black content because of that… internalized racism.”
Nashville police found “very concerning online writings and social media posts” made by Henderson. The 17-year-old wrote about being “ashamed to be Black,” according to WTVF. Additionally, Henderson spewed anti-semitic language and even posted a flyer from a neo-Nazi white supremacy group, Goyim Defense League.
Henderson also repeatedly said the n-word throughout his writings in addition to sharing his thoughts about Antioch High School. “School is a daycare,” he wrote. “It’s just impossible for you to actually think. You say things because other people have said it before then go repeat ad nauseum somewhere else. In school, we’re taught to wake up early, shut up, sit for long periods of hours do tasks you hate then repeat.”
The morning before the fatal shooting, Henderson posted online saying “Today seems like a good day to die.”
In his final post, the teen said he “was so miserable. I wanted to kill myself. I just couldn’t take anymore. I am a worthless subhuman, a living breathing disgrace. All my irl [in real life] friends outgrew me act like they didn’t f*****g know me. Being me was so f*****g humiliating.”
Josselin Corea Escalante was killed during the Antioch attack. Another student was grazed by one of Henderson’s bullets but expected to survive, according to reports.