hostage situation at a school in Bailey, Colorado just 45 min. from columbine, <<-------------- Options

[x_curse_of_the_c...]

source: cnn.com

BAILEY, Colorado (CNN) -- A gunman who killed a student hostage and then himself during a high school standoff in Colorado "traumatized and assaulted" his hostages and the attack "was of a sexual nature," police said Thursday.

Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener identified the gunman as Duane Morrison, 53.

After police stormed the classroom and Morrison's body was removed, Wegener said authorities found a semi-automatic pistol and a revolver.

A witness to the standoff said the gunman wanted to take only girls hostage.

Cassidy Grigg, 16, told NBC's "Today" that the man first forced the male students to leave the classroom when he took a class hostage Wednesday afternoon at Platte Canyon High School, in Bailey, southwest of Denver.

Grigg said the man fired a warning shot while entering the classroom and told students to line up facing the chalkboard. (Watch what questions remain about the gunman -- 0:56)

"He was going from right to left and he tapped me on the shoulder and he told me to leave the room," Grigg told "Today."

"I couldn't turn around and I told him, you know, I said, 'I don't want to leave,'" Grigg said.

"It was apparent to me that he wanted the females in the class. He turned me around and he pointed the gun in my face and told me that it would be a good idea if I just left."

As he left the classroom, Grigg said, another female student was just coming in the door. He pushed her out of the doorway and they left the building together, he said.

Grigg said his initial reaction was to stay in the room with the female students.

"I wanted the girls to have some support in the room," he said.

The man held as many as six girls hostage and had released four, one at a time, before police stormed the classroom. The gunman fatally shot 16-year-old Emily Keyes, who Grigg said "was one of my first friends."

"She was always sweet, she always welcomed people," he said. "She was just friendly, she was a good person in general."

Grigg said no one recognized the man, who he said was trying to look like a student by carrying a backpack and wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

"He was just an old guy that came on a mission and I think he got what he wanted," he said.

The man, who was holding two hostages when SWAT police stormed the room, shot Keyes in the back of the head, officials said. The gunman then shot himself. Keyes was pronounced dead at a hospital in Denver.

Joe Morales, executive director of Colorado's Department of Public Safety, told reporters the man was using Keyes as a shield, and she was shot as she tried to escape.

Morales said police heard the two hostages screaming before they entered the classroom, something that "moved up the tempo of the operation a bit."

Negotiations with the gunman broke down when he began relaying demands through the hostages and then threatened that something would happen at 4 p.m., Wegener said Wednesday.

"It was then decided that a tactical solution needed to be done in an effort to save the two hostages that were in the room," Wegener said.

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Morrison's car searched
Authorities have searched Morrison's car, in which he appeared to be living, the sheriff said.

Wegener said the suspect did not have much of a criminal history and only minor things were on his record.

Bailey is not far from Columbine, where two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves in 1999.

"I know we talk about the Columbine connection," Wegener said. "This is something that has changed my school, changed my community.

"My small county is gone," he added.

"I've gone from upset to angry that this man has done this to our community, has done this to our children," Wegener said.

On Wednesday, Wegener said he was "scared to death" as he was deciding whether to order police to storm the classroom.

"Nobody wants anything to happen like this at their school," said Wegener. He said his own son was in the building. Asked whether he was second-guessing his decision, Wegener said, "I have to go and eventually I have to face a family about the fact their daughter is dead. So what would you do?"

When police arrived, the gunman told them he had a bomb in his backpack, Wegener said, but after it was over, he said, "It looks like there was nothing in the backpack."

wow he was living in his car! this is so sad those poor people! and i feel sorry for the girl. dang sicko!

[*WHIMSICAL 0NE*]

I heard about that yesterday. I was watching the news and was like "Isn't that near Columbine". It's messed up that people are bringing guns into schools.
I wonder what made a grown man choose to go into a school with a gun.
The girl who died is from Madison, WI and her cousin is actually a friend of mine.

[think!IMAGINARIL...]

Don't they check people when they go into schools??

This is messed up.

[pandamonium]

i just saw the geraldo report and they were talking about this. thats sad the girl didnt do anything to deserve it, i just saw the school and it looked really nice cause it was a mid western school, it didnt even look like a school but with that they should of had a little security.

[x_curse_of_the_c...]

yeah. and he didn't even have a motive it's things like this that make me wonder if there is a god.

[F_L_I_P]

My school went on lockdown as practice because of this event.