A school administrator at Marinette High School in northeast Wisconsin called police at around 4 p.m. today, reporting that a student carrying a loaded handgun had gone into a classroom and taken 23 students and a teacher hostage. The school is now surrounded by police trying to talk the armed student into surrendering. [Reuters via LAT]
Updated: Emergency Management Director Eric Burmeister’s office said all 23 students and a female teacher were released unharmed at about 8 p.m. The teacher apparently acted as a mediator between the male hostage-taker and authorities.
Updated: The Times confirms that all of the hostages were released unharmed, but reports that the 15-year-old gunman shot himself after police entered the classroom. He was taken to a hospital, and his condition is unknown. A local policeman said the armed student had made no demands during the standoff and provided no sense of why he had taken hostages. [NYT]
