29 students and a teacher held at Philip Barbour high school before police persuade teenager to give himself up

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A 14-year-old boy held 29 students and a teacher at gunpoint in a West Virginia high school classroom on Tuesday afternoon before he released them after negotiations and surrendered, authorities said.

No injuries were reported.

The student took a pistol into a second-floor classroom at Philip Barbour high school in the north-central part of the state, Lt Michael Baylous, of the state police, said.

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It was the ninth day of the new school year in Philippi, a town with a population of 3000 about 185km (115 miles) south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Barbour county schools superintendent, Jeffrey Woofter, credited the teacher for maintaining control when classes were about to change and praised the Philippi police chief for talking the suspect into giving up.

Woofter said the teacher talked the boy into not allowing the next group of students to enter the classroom.

“The teacher did a miraculous job, calming the student, maintaining order in the class,” Woofter said. He did not give the teacher’s name.

Students who opened the door to enter for the next class were asked to leave. They then went across the hall to tell another teacher, who alerted school officials.

An assistant principal raced to the hallway outside the classroom and called the office asking that police be alerted, Woofter said.

Kayla Smith, a 17-year-old senior, said that at first no one in her classroom in another area of the school took a “code red” warning seriously.

“Then we all held hands and said a prayer,” she said.

Local authorities got first reports about 1.30pm of someone with a gun in the building. Students who were not in the classroom with the suspect were sent to a football field before they were checked off and sent home by bus.

The Philippi police chief, Jeff Walters, negotiated the students’ release and got the suspect to surrender after a few hours.

Walters “did an awesome job negotiating with this very troubled young man”, Woofter said.

The Barbour county prosecutor, Leckta Poling, planned to pursue unspecified charges against the boy, who was taken to a hospital for evaluation. Poling said because the case involved a juvenile, the court process would be closed. Police have not identified the student.

State police captain Dave Reider said there would be an increased law enforcement presence at the school on Wednesday when classes resumed.