Middle School Student Shot by SWAT Team


LONGWOOD, Fla. - A suicidal eighth grader who pulled a handgun in class and briefly took another child hostage was shot by a SWAT team member Friday when he later threatened deputies, Seminole County officials said.
ADVERTISEMENT
click here

Sheriff Don Eslinger said the 15-year-old boy brought the gun to Milwee Middle School in his backpack and briefly took a fellow student hostage during a classroom scuffle.

The student then ran from the classroom and was pursued by deputies into a restroom and isolated there, Eslinger said. The school was evacuated, and no one else was injured. Officials with the sheriff's office said they had not confirmed whether the gun the boy had was real or a toy.

"At one time he held the gun to his neck. As the deputies attempted to establish dialogue, he raised the firearm and lethal force was used by the sheriff's office," Eslinger said.

The boy was taken to the hospital. His condition was unknown.

"He was suicidal," Eslinger said. "During this standoff, and during the chase, the student said he was going to kill himself or die."

Classes were canceled for the rest of the day, and frantic parents arrived to pick up their children.

"When I saw the news, I just couldn't believe this was my daughter's school. I came right away," said Anil Santos, whose daughter, Aleister, is in eighth grade.

Sarah Tivy, a seventh grader, said some students were frightened, but she appeared calm.

"I just figured that if someone is going to bring a gun to school, then they need to be taken out of school," the 12-year-old said.

ya DIG.. damn southerners..

HAHAH!! southerners <333

< southerner :DDD

last year...we had a 22 year old that was a senior. he didn't graduate last year so he SHOULD still be in high school but he dropped out about a month after school started.

it's not like people don't bring guns to school. Everyone in my school does but they only use it to show off

WOAH r u serious?!!!! WHere do you go to school?! Is is in the south?

he was bullied and stuff

well, he's dead now

Lawyer: Teen Shot by Police Is Brain Dead
LONGWOOD, Fla. - The parents of a 15-year-old boy accused of terrorizing classmates with a pistol warned authorities the weapon likely was fake before police shot him in a middle school bathroom, a family attorney said Saturday.

Christopher Penley, of Winter Springs, was accused of pulling a pellet gun in a classroom Friday and pointing it at other students. When he later raised the weapon at a deputy, a SWAT team member shot him, authorities said. Penley was clinically brain dead Saturday, said family attorney Mark Nation.

"His organs are in the process of being harvested," Nation said.

Officers who had responded to the 1,100-student school in suburban Orlando believed the gun was a Beretta 9mm, and didn't learn until after the shooting that it was a pellet gun.

The boy's parents, Ralph and Donna Penley, were in contact with authorities during the incident and told them they believed Penley did not have a real gun, Nation said. Ralph Penley went to the school to attempt to talk his son out of the situation.

"When he got to the school, they would not let him in and he was later told Christopher had been shot," Nation said.

Sheriff's officials Saturday did not return several calls from The Associated Press seeking comment on the lawyer's allegations.

Friends and investigators say Penley was bullied and emotionally distraught, and went to school that day expecting to die.

Patrick Lafferty, a 15-year-old neighbor who has known Penley about six years, said he wasn't surprised by what happened. He said Penley was a loner who "told me he wanted to kill himself dozens of times."

"He would put his headphones on and walk up and down the street and he would work out a lot," preferring to keep to himself, Lafferty said.

Kelly Swofford, a family spokeswoman and neighbor of the boy's parents, said the boy had run away from home several times. Her 11-year-old son, Jeffery Swofford, said Penley had said he had something planned.

"He said `I hope I die today because I don't really like my life,'" Jeffery Swofford said.

Maurice Cotey, 13, told WKMG-TV in Orlando that he struggled with Penley over the gun after everyone else left the classroom.

"He got me towards the closet door, he turned me around, and ... started to point the gun at me, so I started to grab for it. And he pulled it away and then I grabbed for it one more time, .... twisted it and I pointed it at him."

Cotey said after he put the gun to Penley's legs, the gunman kicked him into the closet, where the two scuffled further, before Penley ran out of the classroom.

The school went into lockdown.

From there, Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said, Penley traversed the Milwee Middle School campus before ending up in a bathroom. By then, more than 40 officers, including SWAT and negotiators, were on scene. He refused to drop the firearm, Eslinger said, and was shot after pointing it at a SWAT deputy.

Jeffery Swofford said Penley had been in a disagreement with someone, allegedly over a girl. There was going to be a fight Friday, he said. "I heard a rumor that he had a BB gun, but I didn't think he really had one," he added.

he was bullied and stuff

i think the SWAT team definately could have handled this better. they should have known that it wasn't a real gun.

Lots of people.
That happened in my elementary school. My brothers friend told people he was going to shoot everyone, teachers found out, my brother was dragged into it, and ever since then, my family started getting a police record.

Pretty much everybody in my middle school was strapping ( Holding a gun ) or a knife. In highschool, its the same thing.

But damn. They shot him.

i dont think the poster was using "he was bullied and stuff" as something that would justify the kids actions.. i think he was just informing us..
the swat team is trained to aim for the torso which is also the largest part of the body, so trying to disarm the child would be frivolous because if they missed and he was holding a real gun then yeah. i think they handled it just the way they were trained to

ya DIG.. damn southerners..

and wow. thats one depressed kid.

So?

I was bullied as a kid so I learned how to fight. I got older and got wiser and now I can outsmart anyone who's dumb enough to step to me. Kids get bullied all the time, but there isn't a wave of public school violence sweeping the nation. If that were the case, everyone in my 5th grade class would be dead.