Shots fired at school, suspect nabbed

Police in Georgia have a suspect in custody after reports of gunfire at an Atlanta-area elementary school.

Children can be seen being evacuated from McNair Elementary School. Picture: Twitter Source: Supplied

A child peers out the window of a school bus as busses arrive with students after an incident at Ronald McNair Discovery Learning Academy. Picture: AP Source: AP

A MAN armed with an assault rifle entered a primary school in the US state of Georgia, held employees hostage, and fired on police who shot back before giving himself up.

Dramatic overhead television footage captured young students racing out of the building.

Just a week into the new school year, more than 800 students in pre-kindergarten to fifth grade were evacuated by teachers and police on Tuesday from Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur, a few kilometres east of Atlanta.

DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric L Alexander said the suspect, identified later as 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill, fired at least half a dozen shots from inside the administration area and officers returned fire when he was alone and they had a clear shot. Alexander said at a news conference Hill surrendered shortly after and he had other weapons, but police had no motive for the incident.

Though the school has a system where people must be buzzed in by staff, the gunman may have slipped inside behind someone authorised to be there, Alexander said.

A child peers out the window of a school bus as busses arrive with students after an incident at Ronald McNair Discovery Learning Academy. Picture: AP Source: AP

Hill never got past the front office, where he held one or two employees captive, the chief said. He has been charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

A woman in the school office called WSB-TV as it was happening to say the gunman had asked her to contact the Atlanta station and police.

WSB said during the call shots were heard in the background. Assignment editor Lacey Lecroy said she spoke with the woman, who said she was alone with the man and his gun was visible.

School clerk Antoinette Tuff in an interview on ABC's World News with Diane Sawyer said she worked to convince the gunman to put down his weapons and ammunition.

SWAT team arrives at the school. Picture: Twitter Source: Supplied

"He told me he was sorry for what he was doing. He was willing to die," Tuff told ABC.

She told him her life story, about how her marriage fell apart after 33 years and the "roller-coaster" of opening her own business.

"I told him, 'OK, we all have situations in our lives'," she said. "It was going to be OK. If I could recover, he could, too." Then Tuff said she asked the suspect to put his weapons down, empty his pockets and backpack on the floor.

"I told the police he was giving himself up. I just talked him through it," she said.

DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Michael Thurmond praised faculty and authorities who got the young students to safety, staying calm and following plans in place. All teachers and students made it out of the school unharmed.

Relatives, including Misty Henderson, center, are overcome with emotion as the buses with their loved ones pull into the parking lot of a Walmart in Decatur to be reunited with them. Picture: AP Source: NewsComAu

"It's a blessed day, all of our children are safe," Mr Thurmond said at the news conference.

"This was a highly professional response on the ground by DeKalb County employees assisted by law enforcement."

Officials cut a hole in a fence to make sure students running from the building could get even farther away to a nearby street, he said. SWAT teams went from classroom to classroom to make sure people were out.

They sat waiting in a field until school buses came to take them to their parents and relatives at a nearby Wal-Mart, where cheers erupted when the first bus arrived about three hours after the shooting.
Jonessia White, the mother of a kindergartner, said the school's doors are normally locked.

"I took (my son) to school this morning and had to be buzzed in," she said. "So I'm wondering how the guy got in the door."

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