The Nation - News from Sept. 20, 1989
A high school student charged with taking 11 people hostage at gunpoint at Jackson County High School in McKee, Ky., was ordered to undergo psychiatric tests as police investigated whether the nine-hour incident Monday might have been inspired by a novel. Dustin Pierce, 17, appeared before a judge in Clay County Court in Manchester, Ky., charged with wanton endangerment, unlawful imprisonment and kidnaping. He was ordered to undergo psychiatric tests in Louisville. Pierce, a junior at McKee, allegedly fired two shots during the incident but no one was injured. Officials said Pierce might have been influenced by the Stephen King novel “Rage,” in which a character takes a class hostage.
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