August 25 – a 14 year old boy was charged with holding 29 students and their teacher hostage at Philip Barbour High School from Philippi, West Virginia.
Police said that the boy entered a second-floor classroom at his high school and threatened everybody with a pistol. After negotiations with the police, the boy surrendered. The incident resulted with harm or injuries.
The Superintendent of the the country credited the teacher for managing to keep everything under the control until the incident was reported to the police. Jeffrey Woofter, the superintendent who knew the assailant, dubbed him as a “troubled young man”. Woofter lauded how well the professor handled the situation, by calming his students and not allowing the other class to enter their classroom as the terrible events occurred.
The teacher, whose identity cannot be revealed, opened the door before the next group of students entered and told them to alert school officials. The police was informed of the situation by the assistant principal, who raced to his office at the end of the school’s hallway to report the event. Students from other area of the school declared that initially no one in their classrooms took the warning seriously.
Tuesday, at 1:30 p.m. local authorities received the assistant principal’s call. The officials transfered all of the students to a nearby sports field, and sent them home by school buses. Authorities declared that by 3:30 p.m.the police handled the situation successful though they did not mention for how long were the students kept hostage.
One police officer said that the negotiations worked smoothly and that the boy agreed to release the teacher and all of the students, after which he surrendered without giving rise to any further problems.
The suspect was taken to a hospital for psychological evaluation and because he is juvenile, there will be no court trial.
One terrified parent said that all of the other students were evacuated on the school’s football stadium and that he was finally able to see his daughter. The father was upset that the police and school administration didn’t inform their parents while the assailant was still in the school. As she was crying, his daughter told his father that she never was as scared as she was now.
Jeffrey Woofter also credited the parents for lending an ear to the law enforcement official’s advise to stay far from the school until their children are safely evacuated.
It was only the ninth day of school for the students of Philip Barbour High School, surely the incidents will hunt the mind of the students and their parents for a very long time.
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