Posted on 09/18/2003 12:14:01 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
An armed man claiming to be a member of the al-Qaida terrorist network was killed by police hours after taking at least a dozen people hostage in a college classroom this afternoon in Tennessee.
Two hostages were wounded during the nine-hour standoff.
Dyersburg Police Chief Bobby Williamson initially said the gunman fatally shot himself, but he later confirmed that officers shot him.
Authorities identified the man as Harold Kilpatrick Jr., a 26-year-old Memphis man who was staying with his sister in the town of Dyersburg.
Kilpatrick, who had a 9 mm pistol and a knife, released four people several hours after the standoff began about 1 p.m. Central time at Dyersburg State Community College, about 75 miles northeast of Memphis, the Jackson Sun of Jackson, Tenn., reported.
The al-Qaida claim brought in the FBI, but Williamson said authorities have no reason to believe Kilpatrick was connected to the group.
The gunman, who refused to talk directly with authorities, made no demands but did say he would kill himself, according to student hostages communicating by their cell phones.
A dozen-member SWAT team converged on the scene with about five hostage negotiators, Williamson said.
The man released four hostages after the standoff began – a move unusual for an al-Qaida operative, a terrorism expert told WND. The gunman also wrote a suicide note, another action not in keeping with terrorism.
The standoff was first reported by school president Karen Bowyer, who told Nashville officials one faculty member was among the hostages.
Athletic Director Alan Barnett contacted the Sun to dispel rumors the hostage-taker was a student-athlete from Jackson.
Students on the scene told the paper they were evacuated about 1:15 p.m. and held in the school's library. School officials released the students about 2: 30 p.m. and some were seen crying outside of the building.
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