Marinette, Wisconsin was the site of a hostage situation yesterday.
An armed 15-year-old male student at Marinette High School held 23 students and a female teacher hostage in a standoff that lasted for about five hours.
It ended with all the hostages being released without injury and the 15-year-old boy shooting himself. He's alive but no details about his condition have been released.
Video, WFRV News: All released in Marinette hostage situation
Video, WFRV News: Social media plays big role in Marinette hostage information
News of a hostage situation in Marinette sent social media sites into a whirlwind of activity.
On Twitter Marinette was a top ten trending topic worldwide. Users posted their thoughts and reactions, along with the latest news updates.
Officials warned not to trust everything posted online, as several posts were inaccurate.
A Facebook group was quickly formed urging people to pray for hostages, and gained nearly 2,000 members.
A Marinette High School group was updated several times every minute from concerned alumni across the country.
Then, when all hostages were finally released, people came together online once again to express shared feelings of relief.
People monitoring the situation closely on twitter this evening were among the first to know all hostages had been released safely.
The news broke on Twitter first before it reached airwaves.
Actually, social media played a big role in spreading news and spreading misinformation.
In a post on Facebook, the gunman was named as Sam Hengle. Also on Facebook, it said the 15-year-old killed the teacher. One post claimed a family member "saw a girl all bloody."
More details--
Video, FOX 11 WLUK: Hostages released at Marinette High School
Marinette Police Chief Jeff Skorik says the suspect, a male student, suffered a self inflicted gunshot wound.
He was originally taken to Bay Area Medical Center, but was transferred to St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay. His condition is not being released at the request of his parents, according to a nursing supervisor.
Officials tell us there are no injuries to any of the students or the teacher.
Skorik says the 15-year-old had two handguns in the classroom. He says a high school administrator called authorities after 3 p.m. Monday to say an armed student had burst into a classroom.
At 7:40 p.m. five of the students were released from the room because they had to use the restroom. Skorik says the suspect agreed they could use it.
At 8:03 p.m. officers heard three gun shots, that’s when according to Skorik, officers entered the classroom and saw the suspect standing at the front of the room. Skorik says the suspect then shot himself and the rest of the hostages were evacuated.
Skorik says all students have been safely reunited with their families.
Marinette's Superintendent Tim Baneck says the high school will be closed Tuesday and doesn't know when it will re-open.
From the Associated Press:
The gunman had refused to communicate with officials during the standoff, [Police Chief Jeff] Skorik said, but allowed the teacher to speak with authorities by phone. The teen had made his classmates put their cell phones in the middle of the room and broke his own phone when it rang, Campbell said.
Keith Schroeder, a former Marinette middle school teacher, said he had the gunman as a student and also knows the teacher well. He said the teen's family is extremely involved in all their boys' lives.
"He's a fine young man, and I'm totally taken aback," Schroeder told The Associated Press. "Surprised, flabbergasted to say the least because this is a great family. It doesn't fit any of the things or the molds that you read about people. I couldn't say enough good things about the family."
The gunman may have seemed like a fine young man but he's obviously a very disturbed young man.
Police say the 15-year-old gunman does not have a police record.
He is still not being named.
Details of the boy's condition haven't been released, but he has survived his self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police Chief Jeff Skorik says that he's being treated for some "very serious" injuries, and he's in serious condition. His injuries could be life-threatening.
Skorik says according to the school, the boy was well liked and was a good student. Police don't have a motive at this point.
Police are withholding the gunman's name, because he's a minor and he's in the hospital.
He's a minor, but he's a minor who held two dozen people hostage for five hours. He fired five or six shots. In addition, Skorik said there were numerous live rounds of ammunition in his duffel bag.
There's no doubt about his identity or what he did.
What's also certain is if he had really wanted to kill himself, he easily could have.
Thankfully, none of the innocents involved were physically harmed.
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UPDATE: The 15-year-old gunman, Sam Hengel, died this morning at 10:44.
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Maggie Rodriguez interviews 15-year-old Zach Campbell, one of the students held captive by the teen gunman in Marinette, Wis.
Campbell said, "He didn't want to shoot any of us."
Campbell said Hengel had friends and he wasn't bullied.
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