DECATUR, Ga. – An Atlanta man who fired shots inside a Decatur elementary school Tuesday is in custody after a school secretary talked him into giving up his weapon and turning himself in.

No students or staff were injured after Michael Brandon Hill, 20, alleged fired several shots inside Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy and police returned fire. Officials are crediting school clerk Antoinette Tuff for convincing Hill to put down his weapon and backpack, USA Today reports.

“He told me he was sorry for what he was doing. He was willing to die,” Tuff told ABC.

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Tuff said she shared her life story with the suspect and explained how she made it through a marriage that dissolved after 33 years, according to media reports.

“I told him, ‘OK, we all have situations in our lives,’” Tuff said. “It was going to be OK, If I could recover, he could, too.”

“I just talked him through it,” she said, according to USA Today.

Students at the school were quickly evacuated to a nearby field, then to a local Wal-Mart to reunite with their parents. Police believe Hill gained entry to the school by slipping in behind another visitor who was buzzed in, but he never made it past the school’s main office, according to media reports.

He allegedly forced a school employee to contact police and the local television station, which sent a helicopter out to cover the evacuation.

“Assistant Police Chief Dale Holmes said the suspect was not injured and was undergoing police interrogation,” USA Today reports.

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One school volunteer told the newspaper she overheard some of the gunman’s conversation with Tuff.

“I heard him say, ‘I’m not here to harm any staff or any parents or students,” Deborah Haynes said. “He said he wanted to speak to a police officer.

“By the time I got to 2^nd Avenue, I heard gunshots.”