Teacher Calmed Gunman at High School

A teacher calmed an armed student who held her and 29 students hostage at a West Virginia high school Tuesday, giving police enough time to arrive and negotiate with him. The unnamed teacher convinced the boy not to let another group of students enter the classroom, and those students alerted authorities. “The teacher did a miraculous job, calming the student, maintaining order in the class,” the superintendent said. The 14-year-old held students with a pistol in a second-floor classroom, but released them after negotiating with police. The suspect, who officials did not identify, put down his loaded .380-caliber handgun and surrendered to police at 3:30 p.m., said West Virginia State Police Lt. Michael Baylous. He was being evaluated at a local hospital Tuesday evening.