Chief: 23 Students, Teacher Hostage at Wis. School (ongoing)
MARINETTE, Wis. – An armed student burst into a high school classroom in eastern Wisconsin on Monday, taking more than 20 students and a teacher hostage, authorities said.
A Marinette High School administrator called authorities after 3 p.m. to say a student had taken over a classroom, officials said. Police Chief Jeff Skorik said authorities had been able to communicate with the teacher inside the classroom. No injuries had been reported as of Monday evening and Skorik said no shots had been fired.
Skorik said 23 students were being held hostage in the classroom along with the teacher. He said police know the identity of the suspect and have contacted that student's family.
"We have no idea as far as motivations at this point," the chief said Monday evening.
Choral teacher Bonita Weydt said she was talking with a teacher in another classroom after school, which lets out about 3:10 p.m., when principal Corry Lambie came in.
"I said, `Corry, what's going on?' and he said, `Get out of the building,'" Weydt said.
County emergency management director Eric Burmeister said parents were asked to gather at the county courthouse.
Marinette is about 50 miles north of Green Bay and sits on the border with Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The high school has an annual enrollment of approximately 800 students, according to its website.
