Anxiety Slowly Subsiding After Madison Shooting

MADISON, SD - Students who had been too scared to go to school following a fatal shooting in Madison are returning to their classrooms.
 
Dan Walsh, principal of Madison Elementary School, says that 125 of his school's 500 students were absent Wednesday after the previous night's killing of retired high school teacher Norman Johnson. But by Thursday morning, the anxiety had subsided.  Walsh says things are "basically back to normal." 

That's largely due to officials' Wednesday night announcement that 73-year-old Carl V. Ericsson of Watertown had been arrested on one count of first-degree murder in the shooting death.

Madison Central schools had been in session but on lockdown Wednesday. A district official says the schools are no longer locked down.

Johnson had taught English and coached track at Madison High School.