Education

Pa. Student Kills Principal, Himself

By Darcia Harris Bowman — April 30, 2003 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A 14-year-old York County, Pa., student shot and fatally wounded his junior high school principal in a cafeteria full of teenagers last week before killing himself, officials said.

The shooting took place at 7:30 a.m. on April 24 at Red Lion Area Junior High School. The student, later identified as James Robert Sheets, was armed with “several handguns,” Red Lion Borough Police Chief Walt Hughes said in a press conference broadcast on national television later that morning.

The principal of the 970-student school, Eugene Segro, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital shortly after the shooting.

“To our knowledge right now, there was nothing going on when this went down,” the police chief said. “If [Mr. Segro] was the target of a plot or a plan, we have no information to support that right now.”

No one else was hurt in the incident, police said.

“The school district is grieving the loss of our beloved junior high school principal,” said Larry Macaluso, the superintendent of the Red Lion schools. “We will continue to make plans to deal with the rest of our students, the staff, and our parents and have them work through this.”

The 5,300-student Red Lion district, located southeast of Harrisburg, was the site of a machete attack on a kindergarten class that wounded several students, the principal, and two teachers at an elementary school in February 2001. (HEADLINE, Feb. 14, 2001.)

—DARCIA HARRIS BOWMAN

Events

Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Boosting Student and Staff Mental Health: What Schools Can Do
Join this free virtual event based on recent reporting on student and staff mental health challenges and how schools have responded.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
Practical Methods for Integrating Computer Science into Core Curriculum
Dive into insights on integrating computer science into core curricula with expert tips and practical strategies to empower students at every grade level.
Content provided by Learning.com

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: October 11, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: September 27, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: September 20, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education From Our Research Center What's on the Minds of Educators, in Charts
Politics, gender equity, and technology—how teachers and administrators say these issues are affecting the field.
1 min read
Stylized illustration of a pie chart
Traci Daberko for Education Week