School Shooting
Student Shot After Bringing Gun To School
POSTED: 10:21 am EST January 13, 2006
UPDATED: 12:26 pm EST January 13, 2006
A Seminole County middle school was put on lockdown Friday because of a student with a gun on campus.
A 15-year-old student brought a gun to Milwee Middle School and apparently got into a scuffle with another student in a classroom when that student said he was going to tell teachers about the gun, officials said. Deputies were notified at about 9:38 a.m. and by 9:44 a.m., they had chased the student with the gun into a bathroom.
All other students were evacuated from the area around the bathroom once the student with the gun was isolated there. The SWAT team arrived on scene at about 10 a.m., officials said.
"The student made that he was going to kill himself or die one way or another. At one time, he held the gun to his neck as deputies attempted to establish dialogue," Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said.
The sheriff said deputies were actively negotiating with the eighth-grader after containing him in the bathroom. He said negotiations lasted "minutes" before officers had to use "lethal force" because the student raised the gun again.
"I was there (and) I couldn't hear him responding. All he said was his first name," Eslinger said.
Eslinger said the gun looked to be some sort of automatic pistol, such as a Beretta.
The student has been taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center and his condition is not known at this time. Officials said he is unconscious. WESH 2's Dr. Todd Husty, who is the director of emergency medicine for Seminole County, said his team responded to the school and the student was critically injured.
Officials said the only violence that occurred inside the school involved one student and deputy sheriffs. Two other students were taken to waiting ambulances, but officials said they were taken for emotional distress and perhaps a breathing problem.
The school district has arranged early pick-up for the school's 1,100 students and students are now leaving campus. School officials said students can be picked up at the Progrees Energy facility that is across the street from the school (Click here for dismissal information.)
Images from Chopper 2 show relieved parents hugging their kids at they pick them up at the school.
There were no students, faculty or staff in the area when this happened, officials said.
The school is located at 1341 South Ronald Reagan Blvd. near Longwood.
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