Student Kills Self After Holding Class Hostage

Jennifer Emily and Herb Booth (The Dallas [Texas] Morning News) report, "A student at Ennis High School shot and killed himself today after holding an advanced sophomore English class hostage for a short time, police and school district officials said."

Ennis student kills self after holding class hostage
By Jennifer Emily and Herb Booth
The Dallas Morning News
05/15/2001

ENNIS [Texas] – A student at Ennis High School shot and killed himself today after holding an advanced sophomore English class hostage for a short time, police and school district officials said.

Police said they received a call at 12:08 p.m. that a student was holding a class hostage.

Whitney Hardy, a sophomore who was in the class, said the student, who was not immediately identified, pulled out a gun in Andrea Webb's class.

"We were in the class and he pulled out his gun and he told us to get against the wall," she said. "He said he didn't want to hurt us. Ms. Webb asked what was going on. He said a lot of things were going on"

Whitney said Ms. Webb persuaded him to let everyone in the class leave except for one female student and the teacher.

"I was praying, I didn't know what was happening," Whitney said.

Police said that the student left behind did not see the suicide. The boy fired two shots, one at a camera or a television, and the fatal shot.

Students said the victim was a member of the football team and a good student.

Several students said as the hostage situation was unfolding, school officials came over intercom and said there was a "Code red," the term for an emergency.

Estrella Gonzalez, 16, who was in another class, said, "We turned off the lights, locked the doors and lay on the floor. We thought it was a practice, but when we took longer, we knew it was for real."

Parents who heard about the incident pulled up along the highway near the school, climbing on roofs of houses under construction to try to get a glimpse of what was happening.

Students were sent to a cafeteria and an athletic field after the shooting, and no other injuries were reported at the school, which has nearly 1,300 students.