A 14-year-old boy held 29 students and a teacher at gunpoint in a
West Virginia high school classroom Tuesday afternoon before he released
them after negotiations and surrendered, authorities said. No injuries
were reported.
The student took a pistol into a second-floor
classroom Tuesday afternoon at Philip Barbour High School in the
north-central part of the state, State Police Lieutenat Michael Baylous
said in a statement. It was the ninth day of the new school year in
Philippi, a town of some 3 000 residents located about 185km south of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Barbour County Schools Superintendent
Jeffrey Woofter credited the teacher for maintaining control when
classes were about to change and praised the Philippi police chief for
talking the suspect into giving up.
Woofter said the teacher talked the boy into not allowing the next group of students to enter the classroom.
"The
teacher did a miraculous job, calming the student, maintaining order in
the class," Woofter said, declining to identify the teacher by name.
Students
who opened the door to enter for the next class were asked to leave.
Those students went across the hall to alert another teacher, who then
alerted school officials. An assistant principal raced to the hallway
outside the classroom, then called the office asking that police be
alerted, Woofter said.
Kayla Smith, a 17-year-old senior, said
initially no one in her classroom in another area of the school took a
"code red" warning seriously.
"Then we all held hands and said a prayer," she said.
Local
authorities got first reports about 13:30 on Tuesday of someone with a
gun in the building. Students who weren't in the classroom with the
suspect were sent to a football field before they were accounted for and
sent home by bus.
Woofter said Philippi Police Chief Jeff Walters
negotiated the release of the students from the classroom and
eventually got the suspect to surrender a few hours after it began.
Walters "did an awesome job negotiating with this very troubled young man," Woofter said.
Barbour
County Prosecutor Leckta Poling said she plans to pursue unspecified
charges against the suspect, who was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
Poling said that because the case involves a juvenile, the court
process would be closed. Police haven't identified the student.
State
Police Captain Dave Reider said there will be an increased law
enforcement presence at the school on Wednesday when classes resume.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
14-year-old student takes US school hostage
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