Posted on 09/18/2003 5:10:33 AM PDT by freepatriot32
DYERSBURG, Tenn. (Sept. 18) - A 26-year-old man with a history of mental problems held at least a dozen college students at gunpoint during a nine-hour standoff before a SWAT team stormed the school building and killed the suspect.
Authorities said the gunman, Harold Kilpatrick Jr., had left a note at his sister's house before the standoff Wednesday saying he ``wanted to kill some people and die today.''
Police rushed into the building at Dyersburg State Community College around 10 p.m. after hearing shots and killed Kilpatrick. Two hostages were wounded, but it was not immediately clear they were injured by police or Kilpatrick.
The wounded hostages were airlifted to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, said police spokeswoman Lisa McDowell.
Kilpatrick's cousin, Carolyn Reed, who was at the college Wednesday, said he was being treated for mental problems, but was not taking his prescribed medication. Police said Kilpatrick was not a student or college employee.
Dyersburg Police Chief Bobby Williamson said there were 12 to 16 people in the basic math classroom when the standoff began. About three hours later, three students were released - all women, one of whom was pregnant. The teacher remained in the classroom.
The gunman, believed to have had a 9mm pistol and what looked like a butcher knife, made no demands - aside from food and drink - during the standoff. In the evening, he asked for six pepperoni pizzas and two six-packs of soft drinks, which police delivered.
The gunman claimed to be a member of al-Qaida, and Williamson said that although authorities had no reason to believe the claim, the FBI had been called in. Justice Department officials in Washington also said they had no evidence that the gunman was a member of the terrorist organization.
Authorities said Kilpatrick, of Memphis, was staying with his sister in Dyersburg. In the suicide note, left at his sister's house, he also said he didn't like Americans and had spoken with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, Williamson said.
Officers communicated with the gunman through student hostages on their cell phones, but Kilpatrick wouldn't speak directly to police, Williamson said. They talked to his sister at the scene, but the gunman wouldn't talk to her, Williamson said.
Kilpatrick faced criminal charges of assault and kidnapping in another case, Dyersburg police spokesman Charles Maxey said. He had no details but said Kilpatrick had been scheduled to appear in a Memphis courtroom Wednesday.
09/18/03 06:32 EDT
Surely a big comfort to the hostages...
This is the Islamo-fascist version of a pop-up cruise missile attack...and I mean no humor by this remark, it is meant seriously.
Whether he was an "actual" member of Al-Quida (which is extremely doubtful IMHO) or not is not as important as the fact that he had sympathies with them, identified with them and then went on auto-pilot as they would do.
I am glad the police got him before he killed anyone.
Jeff
Author of The Dragon's Fury Series
Aseries of novels about the next World War
As I said to Travis, Squnatos and Grampa Dave...he was the Islamo-fascist version of a pop-up cruise missle attacked that turned out (thank goodness) to be a dud.
My thoughts are with those hostages who were shot; I'm thankful it wasn't worse. Perhaps I'm wrong but I think this is another in the left's longstanding program of sweeping their crazies under the rug, or protecting them from justice, by quick claims of insanity.
Either way, he was doing their bidding, crazy or not. They are hoping they can influence a lot more people to act similarly I am sure...but it hasn't taken.
This guy was a dud in that respect...thank goodness.
Which is nice.
You can't make this stuff up...
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