http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,243748-412,00.shtml
School Hostage Crisis Ends
Former Student With Gun Surrenders Peacefully
Teacher Was Held In Portable Classroom
Students Were Locked In Classrooms During Standoff
GLENDALE, Ariz., Oct. 24, 2000
(CBS) A hostage crisis at an
elementary school in Glendale,
Arizona, has ended with no
apparent injuries.
That's according to police, who
were in a standoff with a former
student who they say was armed
with a 9mm handgun and was
holding a teacher hostage.
Officers responded to Pioneer
Elementary School about 11 a.m.
and found the student, wearing a mask, holding a hostage in a
portable classroom.
"He came here with a purpose but thank goodness he didn't
carry it out," said police spokesman Matt Brown, who refused to go
into specifics.
Brown does say the student was apparently upset with several
students.
Brown said the classroom was full when the student had entered
but that he had gradually let students go. There were still several
people in the room at the time the student surrendered.
The children were all about 13 or 14 years old, according to police.
He said the standoff lasted about an hour.
A gun was found in the classroom
but police haven't yet said whether
it was loaded.
Parents were asked to stay away
from the scene while police try to
negotiate an end to the standoff.
But many parents went to the
school anyway, some carring cell
phones, calling everyone they can
think of, hoping to get information.
The students, from kindergarten
on up through the eighth grade,
were locked in their classrooms for their own safety while the
standoff continued.
They were then sent home for the day.
Glendale is a town of about 210,000 and home to Luke Air Force
Base.
Courtney Smith, who lives across the street from the school but
does not have any children there, saw the suspect enter the school
grounds around 11:15 a.m. He was wearing camouflage and had a
hood over his head, but she didn't see a weapon.
"I didn't think anything of it. Next thing we know there were girls
running out of the classroom screaming. They told us there was
a kid inside with a gun holding kids hostage," said Smith. "They
were hysterical, crying and screaming. They told us he'd
threatened to kill them."
Parent Terra Churchill was in the back yard of her home, next to the
school yard, when she heard the words "Code 9" announced over
the loudspeaker. Her three daughters, Whitteny, 8, Britteny, 10, and
Tiffeny, 12, all attend Pioneer.
"I heard the school say Code 9, and all the kids started running."
Churchill immediately called the school and was told the campus
was in lockdown. About an hour later, she was standing in Smith's
front yard when she saw police bring the suspect out.
"This is very frightening," she said. "Just to think of what all
those kids are going through."
Copyright 2000 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
