School Climate & Safety News in Brief

Armed Intruder Causes School to Evacuate

By The Associated Press — August 27, 2013 1 min read
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A man with an assault rifle and other weapons exchanged gunfire with officers last week at an Atlanta-area elementary school before surrendering.

Overhead television footage captured the students racing out of Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Center in Decatur, Ga., as teachers and police escorted them to safety. No one was injured.

Though the school has a system in which visitors must be buzzed in by the staff, the apparent gunman, Michael Brandon Hill, may have slipped inside behind someone authorized to be there, a police official said.

The suspect, who had no clear ties to the school, never got past the front office, where he held one or two employees captive for a time. A clerk in the office reportedly persuaded the suspect to put down his weapons.

Investigators say Mr. Hill had 500 rounds of ammunition.

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A version of this article appeared in the August 28, 2013 edition of Education Week as Armed Intruder Causes School to Evacuate

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