Cleveland – Gunman Shoots 4 At SuccessTech Academy High School
October 10, 2007 by Homeland Security NTARC News
Filed under Homeland Security News
BREAKING: Very few details are available this time. We will continue to monitor and update this breaking story.
A gunman has opened fire in a downtown Cleveland high school and five people have been taken to an area hospital.
Mayor Frank Jackson said three young people and two adults have received injuries, that the school,SuccessTech Academy had been secured and there was only one suspect.
Ronnell Jackson, 15, said he saw the shooter running down a school hallway.
“He was about to shoot me but I got out just in time,” he said.
Another student, Doneisha LeVert, said she heard the principal say “Code Blue” over the public address system, and the students started running. She said she hid in a closet with some of her friends.
Students stood outside the building, many in tears and on cell phones. Family members also stood outside, anxiously waiting for their children to be released.
The small, alternative high school is in the center of downtown across from the FBI’s offices and three blocks from where the Cleveland Browns play football. The school enrolls 240 students grades nine through 12 and emphasizes technology education. All the students are poor under federal poverty guidelines.
UPDATE: The gunman, apparently a 14-year-old student is reported to have been killed.
UPDATE: Three students and two adults were hurt today when a 14-year-old gunman opened fire at SuccessTech Academy, a high school in Cleveland, according to the Associated Press.
The 14-year-old, who had been suspended yesterday for fighting, was confirmed dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, WKYC-TV said.
Two male teachers, ages 42 and 57, were shot. One taught math and the other history, WKYC said. The 42-year-old is in surgery, and the 57-year-old is in good condition. Two students, ages 18 and 14, were in stable condition. Another student was hurt while fleeing the building and wasn’t shot.
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What I’m hearing is – and this is hearsay at this point – is that the shooter had previously threatened to blow up the school and also to “Come and kill everbody”. He had apparently been removed from the school previously for disciplinary problems.
The Cleveland school district has it’s own police and it is unclear if they had an officer on campus at the time. The officer that was assigned to that school was listed as being on vacation and officials aren’t sure if there was a replacement for that officer.
I say it’s time to start training and arming teachers.