Armed Student Surrenders, Frees Hostages

A ninth-grader being escorted to the principal’s office broke away from his teacher and then returned with a gun, taking four students hostage for about an hour today before a minister talked him into surrendering, officials said.

No injuries were reported in the incident at Dorman High.

The boy was taken into custody, but Police Chief W. C. Bain said charges would not be determined until after discussions with the solicitor and judge.

According to Floride Martin, the district superintendent, a teacher had detected alcohol on the student’s breath.

“The teacher took him out into the hall to take him down to the principal’s office when he broke loose and ran away from her and left the school grounds,” Martin said.

“Sometime later, he returned to the classroom with a pistol in hand and held four of the students in the classroom with him.”

The boy asked to speak to some friends, but they were not at school at the time so a minister who knew the boy was called to the school. The minister talked him into surrendering.