Gunman dead, 5 injured at Ohio school

By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago

CLEVELAND - A gunman opened fire in a downtown high school Wednesday before killing himself, and five people were taken to a hospital, authorities said.
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After the shooting, shaken teens called their parents on cell phones, most to reassure but in at least one case with terrifying news: "Mom, I got shot."

Mayor Frank Jackson said three teens and two adults were hurt. He said the children were in "stable, good condition," and the adults were in "a little elevated condition."

Police said SuccessTech Academy had been secured and that the lone suspect had fatally shot himself. Students said he was enrolled at the alternative school but did not attend class Wednesday.

Student Doneisha LeVert, who hid in a closet with two other students after she heard a "Code Blue" alert over the loudspeaker, said the shooter had threatened students Friday.

"He's crazy. He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody," she said.

Ronnell Jackson, 15, said he saw a shooter running down a school hallway.

"He was about to shoot me, but I got out just in time," he said. "He was aiming at me I got out just in time."

Tammy Mundy, 38, who has a son and daughter at the school, told The Plain Dealer that her daughter called when the shooting started.

"She said, 'Mom they're shooting in here, kids are running out, I'm hiding in the closet,'" Mundy told the newspaper.

Then she called her 18-year-old son, Darnell Rodgers, on his cell phone, and he told her he had been shot in the arm.

"He said, 'Mom, I got shot,'" Mundy told the newspaper.

Rodgers' girlfriend, 17-year-old Lateisha Riddlehill, who hid in a bathroom during the shootings, confirmed that Rodgers had been shot in the elbow. She said he told her he was going to be fine.

The mayor said two boys, ages 14 and 17, were hurt, as were two men, ages 42 and 57, and a 14-year-old girl he said fell and hurt her knee while running out of the school. It was not immediately clear if the 17-year-old he referred to might actually be Rodgers.

The 57-year-old is a teacher and was in good condition, said Eileen Korey, a spokeswoman for Metro Health Medical Center. She said the older teenage student was in stable condition, and that conditions on the other patients were not being released.

Students stood outside the building, many in tears, hugging each other and on cell phones. Others shouted at reporters with TV cameras to leave them alone. Family members also stood outside, anxiously waiting for their children to be released.

"I'm scared. I'm hoping no more people got hurt," Ronnell Jackson said.

The shooting occurred across the street from the FBI office in downtown Cleveland, and students were being sent to the FBI site.

"There are a lot of emergency vehicles," said spokesman Scott Wilson. "They're just trying to sort things out right now."

Wilson said he had no information on the shooting.

SuccessTech Academy is an alternative high school in the Cleveland city school district that emphasizes technology and entrepreneurship. It is is housed on several floors of the district's downtown Cleveland Lakeside Avenue administration building.

"It's a shining beacon for the Cleveland Metropolitan School System," said John Zitzner, founder and president of E City Cleveland, a nonprofit group aimed at teaching business skills to inner-city teens. "It's orderly, it's disciplined, it's calm, it's focused."

The school has about 240 mainly black students with a small number of white and Hispanic students. All the students are considered poor under federal poverty guidelines.

The school, opened five years ago, ranks in the middle of the state's ratings for student performance. Its graduation rate is 94 percent, well above the district's rate of 55 percent

I saw this earlier too.

So very tragic!

My prayers go out to those families!

I just don't understand the world any more

It's getting pretty bad! I'll be afraid to send my grandchild to school, without a vest! Why can we not somehow detect these troubled teens and young adults?

One of the kids said this kid who did this said he was going to blow up the school on Friday.... if kids could see this then why did the staff not see it....

I know that schools all over the nation have emergency measures in place for this type of incident. These incidents have changed the face of our nation.

There are changes in the law to protect the school and everybody concerned. Perpetrators of school fights are now being prosecuted a court of law, where as it used to be considered a minor incident. Threats are taken seriously, between students. Laws have been enhanced to protect teachers and other school employees involved. Children of a certain age can not issue threats, without getting arrested. Parents please teach them!

Emergency service providers such as, police, fire, paramedics are training differently and training as special teams. Teacher and administrators are getting trained and doing scenarios for mass incidents with this type of situation (shootings/ terrorism ). Police and Saftey organizations are asking that schools provide blue prints to their perspective building complexes. What have we come to? Where does it end? what will our schools and universities, look like in ten short years?

I still feel as though there is room for a lot more prevention/intervention. I know that so many of our communities are doing the best they can. I suggest we get some professionals into the school districts to help deal with anger management, when it is neccesary!

Thanks for letting me rattle on! It concerns me that our school grounds are turning into a battlefield.

Schools have always been battle grounds, its just gotten to the point of desperation when the kid finally thinks he will solve all his problems with a gun and taking out those in his way.

I know how these shooters feel inside because I was just like them, it makes me sad to know that they feel so lost and the only way forward is a way out and try to destroy everything they see.

Well cloudy you can identify with a child, who has problems. Any of us can, if we have ears and hearts that listen. Sometimes it's all they may need to start letting out the anger and frustration as they see it in their world. We have got to take them seriously!

I do not know what you are all complaining about.
You want the right to bear arms for everyone?
Bear the consequences, too.

I have said too much already on this one.

i still stand by my ststement that i wouldent send my kids to a public school UNARMED for reasons that today should be obvious.

ug every time i think society is progressing something like this happens
this one hits especially close 4 me as im originally from cleveland

yep

getting to close to home

whats this world coming to