A 14-year-old gunman opened fire at fellow students and teachers
at a high school at Cleveland, Ohio, Wednesday, wounding four, and
was then killed, the mayor of Cleveland said.
The shooting victims include two adult men, both teachers, 57
and 42 years old; and two teenage males, 17 and 14 years old, Mayor
Frank Jackson told reporters.
Two SuccessTech Academy
students walk from the school where a gunman opened fire on
students and teachers in Cleveland, Ohio Oct. 10,
2007.??
Another 14-year-old female hurt her knee in the chaos, he
added.
The two students with gun wounds were taken to hospitals and are
now in "stable" condition, according to Jackson.
He described the adults' conditions as "slightly elevated" above
that of the students.
Cleveland police said the shooter, 14-year-old Asa Coon, is
dead, and it appears he shot himself.
Coon, a ninth grade student described by fellow students as
"odd," was upset about being suspended for fighting earlier this
week.
He came to the school Wednesday with a gun in each hand and
began firing shortly after 1 PM.
Students said they took cover in closets after the school
principal announced a "Code Blue" on the intercom.
The school has since been evacuated. However, it was unknown for
sometime whether there were still some people hiding in various
areas of the building.
Student Ronnell Jackson, 15, said he saw the shooter running
down the hall and ducked out the door.
"He was about to shoot me, but I got out just in time," Ronnell
said. "He was aiming at me, I got out just in time."
Student Doneisha LeVert, who hid in a closet with two other
students after she heard the principal say "Code Blue," said the
alleged shooter had threatened students at the school last
Friday.
"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened
to stab everybody," she said.
SuccessTech is a nontraditional high school at downtown
Cleveland, and all of its 240 are under national poverty line.
It is a "school of choice" and students have to apply to get
in.
SuccessTech Academy is
surrounded by Cleveland Police after a gunman opened fire inside
the school in Cleveland, Ohio Oct. 10, 2007.
Cleveland Schools CEO, Dr. Eugene Sanders, said Cleveland
schools and all school activities are canceled for the entire
district Thursday.
Cleveland students were already scheduled to be off on Friday,
However, faculty and staff will meet Friday to discuss how to
handle what has happened.
School shooting has become an issue under spotlight in the US
since the Virginia Tech massacre, in which a student of South
Korean origin killed 32 people and wounded 25 others before
committing suicide on April 16, 2007, making it the deadliest
shooting in modern US history.
(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2007)
