The boy, who is a student at Philip Barbour High School in Philippi,
West Virginia, took 29 students and a teacher hostage on Tuesday and
held them at gunpoint for an hour before he agreed to negotiations, let
them go and surrendered to police.
The teacher held hostage reportedly blocked students from entering her
classroom while a fellow teacher alerted authorities to stop the boy
from becoming the gunman of a mass school shooting.
At approximately 1.15pm, the boy, who has not been identified, walked
into the second floor classroom and pointed a pistol at the teacher,
Superintendent Jeffrey Woofter wrote in a prepared statement released by
The Exponent Telegram.
Woofter said that the students who were to told not to enter went across
the hall to another classroom and told a second teacher they had been
sent her way.
The teacher went to the first classroom to see what was happening, and when she opened the door, the boy pointed the gun at her.
She slammed the door shut and returned to her room where she called the main office, who called 911 at approximately 1.30pm.
An assistant principal put the school on lockdown and went classroom to classroom ensuring doors were closed and locked.
When state police arrived, they took positions outside the classroom and
negotiators persuaded the boy release the hostages, put the gun down
and surrender, Woofter said.
Students who had been held hostage were taken to the gym and met by EMTs and law enforcement officers.
'We want to thank both of the teachers involved and the students in the room for their heroic actions,' Woofter said. 'We also want to thank the entire administration, faculty, staff and student body at Philip Barbour High School for their actions in a very trying situation.'
Students elsewhere in the school were moved to a nearby football field, accounted for and sent home by school bus.
The suspect has been taken to a hospital for evaluation before being
taken into custody by police. He has since been placed in a secure
detention facility.
The boy was taken before Circuit Court Judge Alan D Moats at 6.55pm for
an emergency preliminary hearing and will remain in holding pending
confidential proceeding, Barbour County Prosecutor Leckta Poling said.
State Police Capt. Dave Reider said that the investigation into the
incident is still ongoing and that he couldn't reveal if shots had been
fired.
'Kids will just need to have the opportunity to process this trauma in a
way that feels right for them,' Chris Schimmel, head of the West
Virginia University school counseling program, told The Exponent
Telegram. 'Some kids might need to talk and process, and other kids
might need the structure of going to class.'
Steve Saltis was among several anxious parents who went to the school
and waited outside an area cordoned off by police tape while waiting for
students to be released.
Saltis said by phone that his daughter attends the school and that 'a
lot' was going through his mind while he waited for her to head home.
Saltis said many students had been sitting in the school's football
stadium after the school was evacuated and that he was able to talk to
his daughter.
But Saltis said law enforcement officials told parents nothing while the suspect was still in the school.
Poling wouldn't specify what charges would be brought against the male student.
She said no charges had been filed as of Tuesday night but that the county is pursuing charges.
Poling said that because the case involves a juvenile, the court process would be closed. Police haven't identified the student.
Classmates of the gunman took to Twitter to speak about their emotions surrounding Tuesday's incident.
Some students and Twitter users wrote about how thankful they were that
the situation was not worse. Others questioned the boy's actions and the
reasoning behind those defending him on social media.
DailyMail
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