Cincinnati-area high-school student attempts suicide in class

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http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/04/29/Cincinnati_high_school_shooting.html

 

 

Cincinnati-area high-school student attempts suicide in class

 

CINCINNATI — An honors student at an all-male Catholic high school tried to commit suicide in his first-period classroom yesterday, police said, critically wounding himself with a gunshot that sent other students scrambling for cover.

 

La Salle High School, west of Cincinnati, was locked down until after police arrived and determined that there was no threat to other students or employees. A University of Cincinnati Medical Center spokeswoman reported the student’s condition as critical yesterday afternoon.

 

Green Township Police Chief Bart West described the weapon as a semi-automatic handgun. He said police were investigating how the student obtained the gun and how he got it into the school.

 

West said 22 other students were in the classroom, and the episode was over “in a matter of seconds” with no other students injured or apparently threatened. Several students called 911 dispatchers.

 

“There’s a guy with a gun,” said a student who called on his cellphone from inside a nearby locked room. “We just need police here.”

“We’re huddled in a corner,” another student said in a call.

 

There was conflicting information on precisely what time the shooting took place, but school officials said it was during the first class period.

Hospital spokeswoman Diana Maria Lara released a statement from the boy’s parents thanking people for their thoughts and prayers while asking for privacy “so that we can do what we need to for our son and family.” They praised the hospital medical staff’s “heroic efforts.”

 

Greg Tankersley, the school’s director of community development, said that the boy’s parents asked that his name not be released, and he said he wouldn’t release other information about the student other than to say he had a strong academic and community-service record. West said the student apparently was trying to kill himself, but the chief had no information on why.

 

School officials described the boy as an honors student and didn’t know of threats against the school or other students. The Hamilton County sheriff’s office said it planned to search the building with dogs as a precaution against explosives, but the office had no indication there were other weapons.

Students, some in tears, gathered in the school gym after the shooting. The school’s website said all students were safe and were being released to parents “due to an attempted suicide involving one student.”

 

Grief counselors from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati joined the school’s counselors in meeting with students and staff members, and yesterday evening’s school activities were canceled.

 

School officials said classes will resume today, with the school day beginning with a prayer service.

“We just ask that you pray for him and his family,” Tankersley said. “It’s a tragic situation for this young man.”

He said the youth was “fighting for his life.”

 

A priest went to the hospital where the student was being treated. Since last year’s fatal shooting of three students in Chardon High School in northeastern Ohio and December’s Sandy Hook Elementary shooting rampage in Connecticut, most schools have taken steps to increase security. In Ohio, that has included taking training courses offered by the state attorney general in shooting prevention and response, and updating safety procedures with police.

 

“We always have concerns about school security,” West said.La Salle “did an excellent job” in responding yesterday, he said. He said township police had met recently with school officials to review their safety plan.

 

“We’re going to go back and look at everything,” Tankersley replied when asked at a news conference about how a gun got into the school. But he added that yesterday’s priority was the condition of the wounded student and the well-being of others.

 

 

[Justice]

I read that yesterday..so sad...It is sad that someone feels so worthless that you would take your own life..prayers to the families and school..