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Teen Holds Classmates Hostage in Arroyo Grande -- But is Tackled by Other Students !
KTVU News ^
| 1/17/2003
| KTVU and AP
Posted on 01/17/2003 8:19:10 PM PST by ex-Texan
Teen Holds Classmates Hostage in Arroyo Grande -- But is Tackled by Other Students !
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. -- A suicidal sophomore student was arrested Friday after he briefly held about 25 classmates and two teachers hostage at gunpoint, police said.
The unidentified boy was tackled by two classmates, who took a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic gun from him, police Sgt. John Allen said.
No injuries were reported.
Police were called to Arroyo Grande High School at 9:11 a.m. after they received a report of a student with a gun, Allen said.
The unidentified 15-year-old pulled out the loaded weapon and pointed it at two teachers in his sophomore English class, ordering them to sit down, Allen said.
"His intent was to end his life," Allen said. "He wanted an audience. He had a lot of personal issues that he wasn't dealing with very well."
The teen was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, bringing a weapon on school grounds and false imprisonment.
The high school was placed under lockdown for about an hour while authorities determined that no other students were involved.
Arroyo Grande, population 16,000, is 142 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: gunsinschools; teenstacklesuicide
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1
posted on
01/17/2003 8:19:10 PM PST
by
ex-Texan
To: All
2
posted on
01/17/2003 8:20:06 PM PST
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: ex-Texan
Thanks for the story. Isn't it interesting, since 9/11 how a lot of Americans aren't going to sit there and let themselves be victims? The people on the plane with the shoe bomber, these kids, I know there's many more examples...
3
posted on
01/17/2003 8:24:17 PM PST
by
egarvue
(Martin Sheen is not my president...)
To: ex-Texan
"His intent was to end his life," Allen said. "He wanted an audience. He had a lot of personal issues that he wasn't dealing with very well."Which is why his handgun was fully loaded and he had a spare clip. He needed all 29 bullets to kill himself.
4
posted on
01/17/2003 8:26:51 PM PST
by
xm177e2
To: egarvue
Isn't it interesting, since 9/11 how a lot of Americans aren't going to sit there and let themselves be victims?Right. I wonder if the teachers had undergone some idiotic post-Columbine training telling them not to do what these teenage heros did.
To: ex-Texan
The unidentified boy was tackled by two classmates, who took a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic gun from him..No doubt they'll be expelled, too.
6
posted on
01/17/2003 8:29:47 PM PST
by
TomServo
To: ex-Texan
This brings back memories from high school. My friend and I were at another student's house when the guy started waving his father's handgun around, pointing it at us and being a jerk. We wrestled the gun away from him, disposed of the ammo, then proceeded to beat the living snot out of him. I had forgotten all about the incident until I read this article.
To: ex-Texan
8
posted on
01/17/2003 9:05:47 PM PST
by
Consort
To: ex-Texan
Hey I thought we had zero tolerance for violence in schools. Both those tacklers should be jailed. And the kid with the gun... let him go home he just has personal issues.
To: ex-Texan
I have a guess as to race, unfortunately.
10
posted on
01/17/2003 9:36:38 PM PST
by
ikka
(Democrats are the party of dogs, night riders and Bull Connor)
To: ex-Texan
11
posted on
01/17/2003 9:39:17 PM PST
by
Flyer
(Support Your Local FReeper Chapter)
To: Jeff Chandler
And ... hopefully, the guy never pointed a gun at anyone again - except in self-defense.
12
posted on
01/17/2003 9:40:50 PM PST
by
CyberAnt
(Syracuse where are you?)
To: ikka
I wasn't able to derive race from the article. What in the world are you implying? No need to be cryptic. Say what's on your mind.
13
posted on
01/17/2003 9:43:38 PM PST
by
bluefish
To: ex-Texan
"...He had a lot of personal issues that he wasn't dealing with very well."Was his father a gay lawyer from the bay area?
Actually A.G. is a pretty nice little town, I used to live there
14
posted on
01/17/2003 9:50:49 PM PST
by
dogbrain
To: ex-Texan
The teen was arrested for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, bringing a weapon on school grounds and false imprisonment. If this teen simply wanted to commit suicide, he could have done it at home. Instead, he forced teachers and students to become involved and created a dangerous situation by using a gun to get his message across. They ought to throw this teen in a prison cell and then throw away the damn key.
15
posted on
01/17/2003 9:52:57 PM PST
by
judgeandjury
(The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.)
Comment #16 Removed by Moderator
To: bluefish; marujo
If race is not mentioned, the perp is not white. Thus either black or hispanic.
If it was a black area, it would have been mentioned; and since Arroyo Grande is in Mexifornia, chances are the perp is Mexican or of Mexican descent.
We may never know because he is underage, however.
17
posted on
01/17/2003 10:03:06 PM PST
by
ikka
Comment #18 Removed by Moderator
To: ikka
You are probably correct. However, I didn't consider the comments as relevant here. The gang of punks raping a woman in a New York park type situation where race isn't identified more often screams of a politically correct agenda.
However, since mass school shooters (as opposed to gang type violence) and suicidal kids are more typically disturbed white kids, I guess I was actully picturing a "troubled" white kid who had been bullied a few too many times when reading the article. Thus, your comments caught me off guard. I thought "What the heck is he talking about and why is it important here?" I hadn't even considered the predominantly Hispanic population.
Both genralizations can be made, so I felt "guessing the race" was pointless here. I do it myself, but only if race was the reason for a crime (like black hate crimes again whites, which are never idenitified as such) or if a perp is still on the loose and SHOULD be identified. I also recognize and bristle at the racial reporting with the more rare white on black hate crimes.
Any other situation just seems to have no purpose. Be aware that your comments, whether intended or not, can be construed as an attempt to advance a racist agenda itself and is dangerous. This is why I like to preserve this type of speculation for instances where a greater level of relevance is present.
19
posted on
01/17/2003 10:22:17 PM PST
by
bluefish
To: ikka
From what I've seen, kids who bring their "issues" to school along with a handgun are usually middle- to upper-class white teenage boys.
This one might not be, but statistically speaking....
20
posted on
01/17/2003 10:25:53 PM PST
by
Amelia
(Who's sending missile parts to Iraq?)
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