Thurs., 3-1-2012: PHOENIX
(Reuters) - One person has been wounded in a shooting at a high school in southeast Arizona, and a suspect is in
custody, police and sheriff's officials said on Thurs.
The Cochise County Sheriff's Department said the shooting occurred at a high
school in Willcox, about 195 miles southeast of Phoenix, at around 3:15 p.m."There was one injury, possibly a student, non-life threatening, and possibly one in custody," sheriff's spokeswoman Carol Capas told Reuters.
The shooting came just three days after a suspected teenage gunman opened fire in the cafeteria of an Ohio high school, fatally shooting three students and wounding two others before a coach chased him from the scene.
In Willcox, an official at the police department said Willcox High School remained on lock down, with police officers on the scene.
Penny Bell said she was unable to confirm the age, gender or identities of either the shooting victim or the person in custody. She said the person detained was an adult.
(Reporting y Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
3-1-2012: CBS (AP) SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - The quarrel at a Christian school was at first easily ignored by other students: a disagreement between a classmate and a teacher that could barely be heard. But it quickly escalated into gunfire Thursday in a murder-suicide marking the rare violent death of an American in Iraq's most peaceful region.
Authorities in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah said 18-year-old Biyar Sarwar shot his gym teacher, U.S. citizen Jeremiah Small, before turning the gun on himself at a private English-speaking school during a morning sports lecture. Sarwar died later at a nearby hospital.
Small, 33, was from Cosmopolis, a town in western Washington state near the coast. His father, J. Dan Small, confirmed the death on his Facebook page. "Our oldest, Jeremiah, was martyred in Kurdistan this a.m.," the elder Small wrote.
Eyewitnesses in Iraq described a scene of chaos in the classroom, with some students fainting in fear after gunfire shattered the morning class.
Ahmed Mohammed said he was sitting in the front of the classroom and paid little attention to the argument when it first erupted. He said he could barely hear what was happening because Sarwar was at the back of the room.
"Then I heard the gunshot," said Mohammed, his face pale as he recounted the scene. "I turned my head and saw the body of the American teacher on the ground with blood near it. All the students started to run out of the room. Seconds later, as I was running to the reach the school gate, I heard another gunshot."
A short time later, another student shouted that Sarwar had killed himself, Mohammed said.
"So I rushed back to the class with other students to see the teacher on the ground with three bullets in his head and chest, and bloody, and Biyar with a bullet in his head."
Sulaimaniyah police spokesman Sarkawit Mohammed, no relation to Ahmed, said the shooting appeared to be a murder-suicide, but provided no motive. He said Sarwar hid the gun in his clothes before the lecture at the Medes School, a private Christian academy of elementary through secondary grade level classes.
The Medes program runs three schools in the provinces that make up Iraq's northern Kurdish region, boasting an enrollment of about 2,000 students. According to the schools' website, American staff often teach one or two courses each semester. An estimated 95 percent of the students are from Kurdish Muslim families.
Students described Small as a devout Christian who frequently praised Christianity and prayed in the classroom. However, Sulaimaniyah Mayor Zana Hama Saleh said Small was not a missionary and cast doubt that the killing was motivated by sectarian issues because Sarwar "had no radical religious tendencies."
"Maybe the student had mental problems," Saleh said.
The Nashville, Tenn.-based Servant Group International, for whom Small worked, confirmed his identity and described him as a beloved mentor to the more than 1,000 Iraqi students he taught since 2005.
Jeff Dokkestul, a Servant Group International board member, said Small was one of nine American teachers at the Sulaimaniyah school, which he said is run by Iraqi Kurds. Although Dokkestul said the groups' teachers are Christian, he maintained that they do not proselytize their students.
"We believe this is an isolated incident, just like (what) happens in the U.S.," Dokkestul said in an interview. He said the school operates "as a Christian school serving the Muslim and Christian community, a mixed community."
Sulaimaniyah is located in Iraq's comparatively peaceful Kurdish region, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad. The Kurdish region has generally been free of the bombings and shootings that have plagued the rest of Iraq in recent years. Foreigners, including American citizens, usually travel freely around northern Iraq without the armed guards or armored vehicles often used in the rest of the country.
A team from the U.S. consulate in Irbil, the Kurdish region's capital, was in Sulaimaniyah to identify Small's body but was unable by Thursday night to do so.
"We have heard reports regarding the shooting of a teacher in Sulaimaniyah and are working through our consulate in Irbil and Iraqi authorities to ascertain the details of the incident," the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said in a statement. "At this time, we are waiting for identification to be completed and for the family to be notified."
Medes student Neyan Kamal said Small was highly respected, and described Sarwar as smart.
"I'll never forget these cruel moments," said Kamal, who was in the classroom during the shooting. "I have no idea what the motive was — both were good people."
Thurs., 3-1-2012 CHICAGO -- At least one student has died and another is hospitalized in critical condition following a stabbing at a school on Chicago's South Side.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the stabbing occurred about 7:30 a.m. in the 10200 block of South Crandon Avenue at AMIKids Infinity Chicago, an alternative school.
The alleged killer, a 16-year-old who was a student at the school, has been taken into police custody, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Both victims were reportedly male students.
A 17-year-old who was reportedly trying to break up a fight between the teen in custody and the deceased 16-year-old was hospitalized in critical condition, the Sun-Times reports.
A spokeswoman for AMIKids Infinity Chicago told the Tribune that the school provides services for kids that have been expelled or suspended from Chicago Public Schools.
"They generally have severe emotional or learning disabilities and can’t perform in the public schools system," she told the paper. "They either stay for a period of time before returning to cps or finish their schooling with AMI.”
A school worker told NBC Chicago that two of the students involved "got into an altercation" before entering the building, and the incident apparently escalated when they got inside.
Mon., 2-27-2012: Ohio school shooting survivor Nick Walczak is partially paralyzed with bullets lodged in his cheek and neck, but that doctors are "cautiously optimistic" that he will walk again, the teen's mother said today.
Walczak, 17, was one of five high school students shot in a rampage at Chardon High School on Monday by accused shooter T.J. Lane. Three students--Demetrius Hewlin, Russell King Jr. and Daniel Parmertor--died from their wounds.
Another wounded student, Joy Rickers, has been released from the hospital. Walczak remains hospitalized.
Walczak's mother Holly Walczak told a news conference that she believes her son was shot four times: twice in the neck, through the arm and in the back.
Walczak's brother previously told ABC News that his brother had no feeling below his chest.
"He has a bullet still in his cheek and his neck," Holly Walczak said. "He's just getting feeling back in his legs. It's going to be a really slow process, they said. He's going to need spine therapy. The surgeon said they're cautiously optimistic."
Nick Walczak's went into spinal shock after the shooting, but doctor's hope he will be able to walk again.
"He's strong, he's brave and his age really makes a big difference. I know he can do it," his mother said.
She said his son has been conscious throughout the ordeal and knows that his friends have died.
"We really try not to talk about it at this point. It's a little too traumatic for him," she said. "It's kind of a blur, at this point."
Holly Walczak spoke at a news conference along with the families of Hewlin and Parmertor and mentioned the guilt she feels since her son survived the attack.
"The families that have had the losses...it's a guilty [feeling] for me because they lost and my son was saved. I think that's the hardest part for me. I feel for them every minute, every hour," she said.
The mom credits teacher Joseph Ricci for saving her son's life by dragging him into another room after he was shot and caring for him until paramedics arrived.
"He is the person that saved my son's life. He pulled him from the hallway into a room. He is forever our hero," Walczak said. "He's remarkable. I can't believe it. Nick would be the fourth victim, otherwise."
Speaking of her son's slain friends, Walczak said, "Danny, Russell and Demetrius--they're awesome young men and their lives were ended early, but it's not in vain. They left a mark on all of our lives and I just keep praying for them and for Nick."
Nick Walczak's brother Josh Walczak, 20, said that when he heard about the shooting and that his brother had been involved, he didn't know what to think.
"I saw him in the hospital and it was the worst day of my life," Josh Walczak said.
"He's my best friend. The kid is full of spirit. He's always in a good mood," he said of his brother. "Our relationship is going to get a million times stronger after this. I'll definitely be with him every step of the way from here on out."
Victim Demetrius Hewlin's mother Phyllis Ferguson also spoke and gave an update on her son.
"They took him this morning five minutes to eight to take his organs, so I'm having a hard time," Ferguson said as she choked back tears. "This was the last time I got to see him before they do what they do to him."
Ferguson said that one of the recipients of Hewlin's organs would be a child who was in the pediatric unit and only had a few days to live without a transplant. She was proud that her son would be able to save lives with his own, as he had wanted.
Ferguson also specified that her 16-year-old son was shot in the head.
She told ABC News on Wednesday that she had forgiven suspected shooter T.J. Lane.
"I would tell him I forgive him because, a lot of times, they don't know what they're doing. That's all I'd say," Ferguson said.
"I taught Demetrius not to live in the past, to live in today and forgiveness is divine. You have to forgive everything. God's grace is new each and every day," she said. "Until you've walked in another person's shoes, you don't know what made him come to this point."
Students and parents gathered in the center of Chardon today to march back to the school together. The school was open today a walk through and parents and students were encouraged to come together. On Friday, school will be back in session.
