SAFER SCHOOLS NEWS-VOL. 4

A SPECIAL REPORT!
There has been another school shooting 12/6/99 at Fort Gibson Middle School in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma.

FORT GIBSON, Okla., Dec. 6 — Five students were shot Monday morning at Ft. Gibson middle school in a farm town 50 miles southeast of Tulsa. A 13-year-old suspect was in custody, reportedly a 7th-grade male student at the school. The victims were in stable condition.

SUPERINTENDENT Steve Wilmoth said the shooting took place outside the Fort Gibson Middle School when “another student just walked up and opened fire” on students gathering before the start of classes.  “From what I know at this point it seems to be a random thing,” he added.  Police said a 9 mm handgun was confiscated from the suspect.

The mother of one student said the suspect, when asked at the scene why he did it, only responded: “I’m crazy.”

‘SWEET KID’
The father of a girl who attends the school told the news that the suspect was not a troublemaker or the kind of person one would think could commit such a crime.   “My daughter just says that he’s a sweet kid,” Kevin Owen said, “you just wouldn’t expect it from this child.”  One 6th-grade girl told the news that the suspect “seemed like a very nice boy, he goes to my church.”  “It seems like he has a good group of friends that he hangs out with,” she added.

Another student said “everyone was screaming, everyone was crying,” when the shooting began. Some children thought the gunfire was firecrackers left over from a football game Saturday.

911 CALLS
Police at first thought a frantic 911 call about the shooting was a hoax. The first call came from a student about 7:45 a.m. An adult made the second call.   Fort Gibson is a town of about 3,500 about 50 miles southeast of Tulsa. About 450 students attend the middle school.

A school official said all of the district’s 1,850 students were released because of the shooting.