Student, 15, Takes 11 Classmates Hostage

McKEE, Ky. —  A 15-year-old straight-A student armed with a shotgun, a .357-magnum and an automatic pistol stalked into a high school classroom, fired a shot into the ceiling and wall and took 11 classmates hostage today.

He later released all but three hostages, and police said his only request was to speak to his father.

Although several shots were fired, including one at a television news helicopter, no injuries were reported in the incident, which began at about 9:50 a.m.

The youth “said he wasn’t going to hurt nobody,” according to Craig Eversole, a classmate who was the last to be released. “He said he wasn’t going to shoot nobody.”

Police Trooper Ed Robinson also said the teen-ager apparently had held one hostage overnight--the son of school Principal Betty Bond. He said that the two boys arrived at school in the younger Bond’s red pickup and that it appeared that the armed youth had been holding the principal’s son since the night before.

Newcomer From California

It was not clear why the youth took over the classroom at Jackson County High School. Authorities described him as a newcomer from California who was living with his grandparents, but some students said they had known him for years.

Robinson said his only request was to speak with his father in Florida. Police contacted the father through a friend in Delray Beach, Fla., but did not say whether the boy was allowed to speak to him.

Eversole, a 15-year-old junior, said he was in the classroom when the armed youth entered after reportedly firing a shot in the school parking lot.

“He never said nothing,” Eversole said. “He shot the ceiling and told the teacher to leave and let two rows of students leave. . . . He didn’t say nothing, why he was doing it or nothing.”

Eversole was released at about 1:30 p.m. after soda was delivered to the room--apparently as part of a deal with police.

Robinson said the youth released one hostage in exchange for a police radio, then others in exchange for cigarettes, pizza and soda.

Robinson said the boy appeared relatively calm. “He is not ranting, raving, this type (of) thing,” the trooper said.

However, Robinson said the boy fired one shot at a news helicopter from WCPO-TV in Cincinnati shortly before 1 p.m.