The shooting happened about 11:30 a.m. during 53-year-old Jesse Davidson's planning period.
Students were trying to get into his classroom, but he wouldn't let them in. The students notified the principal, who then tried to open the door with a key.
At that time, police said, Davidson fired a shot through an exterior window. No students were inside his classroom at the time.
The school was then put on lockdown.
During the lockdown, Annmarie Jacobs says her daughter, Emma Jacobs, texted that her teacher had turned the lights off and told the students to sit in a corner.
Then, in an act that brought home the danger of the situation, her daughter texted, "omg she's putting desk in front of the door."
Jacobs said she was about 100 miles away from Dalton High School and driving through Tennessee when she got the texts. Shaking, she pulled over on the roadside.
Dalton police said Davidson, a social studies teacher at Dalton High School, was taken into custody after a 30- to 45-minute standoff with police.
Davidson has been a teacher at the school since 2004 and is known to many as the voice of the Dalton High School football team.
At Dalton High a week ago, police found a "threatening" note on the floor of a classroom, but said it wasn't related to the shooting on Wednesday.
The note was found Feb. 21, and mentioned a threat against the school the following day, authorities said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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