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Expelled student held in Oregon shooting
Kipland (Kip) Kinkel and an injured person 1 killed at school; 2 dead found at home
In this story:
SPRINGFIELD, Oregon (CNN) -- A 15-year-old boy expelled from an Oregon high school opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle in the school's crowded cafeteria on Thursday, killing at least one student and wounding several others, authorities said. Two adults -- a male and a female -- were later found shot to death at the suspect's home, Lane County Sheriff Ernie Loy said, but he could not confirm whether they were the suspect's parents.
Initial reaction from students and parents at the school
VXtreme streaming video (4:30)
The incident at Thurston High School in Springfield left about 25 students hurt, either in the gunfire or in the panic afterward, school officials said.
Seven of the wounded were described as having life-threatening injuries from the attack, which occurred shortly before 8 a.m.
The teen-age suspect, identified as Kipland (Kip) Kinkel, was taken into custody about 20 minutes later, reportedly after he was tackled by at least one other student. No teachers were hurt.
Student Tessa Manka describes hearing the shots 
329K/30 sec. AIFF or WAV sound The armed suspect, dressed in camouflage fatigues, is believed to be a freshman at the school but was not immediately identified by authorities.
There was an unconfirmed report he stood atop a table in the cafeteria as he fired. Wrestling coach Gary Bowden said the shooter had a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle, a .38-caliber handgun and military style knives.
'It would be fun to kill someone'
The student had been expelled on Wednesday for trying to bring a gun to class, police said.
"He always said that it would be fun to kill someone and do stuff like that," said student Robbie Johnson, who knew the suspect. "Yesterday, he told a couple of people he was probably going to do something stupid today and get back at the people who had expelled him."
"He told other people he was going to do something," said one distraught parent who rushed to the school and was angered that the student had not been taken into custody on Wednesday.
Bowden said there were between 300 and 400 students in the cafeteria for a senior Men's Excellence Breakfast when the shots rang out. He said one of the his best wrestlers, Jake Riker, despite being shot himself, tackled the shooter, got the gun away from the suspect and held him down.
"Any kid who takes a gun to school -- why he isn't put under observation for a few weeks is beyond me," Bowden said.
Eyewitness accounts
Students said the boy sprayed bullets through the cafeteria. "We were in the parking lot getting ready to walk in and everybody came running out and they said: 'People are shooting!,'" said 15-year-old Courtney Anderson.
Several students outside the school said they thought it was a gag related to student-body election day.
"I heard like firecrackers. People were running and screaming. There were two bodies and blood was everywhere," said a student who refused to give his name as he was taken out of the school by his mother.
Sara Wells, a 14-year-old freshman who was in the girls' locker room, said she heard gunshots and then a warning over the school's public address system: "Everybody go to the closest room, get out of the halls!"
The school of 1,350 students was shut down immediately after the shooting and parents, many of them weeping and screaming, waited outside.
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Do you fear violence in our schools? Emergency vehicles were hampered from getting to the scene by worried parents who clogged roads with their vehicles as they rushed to the high school. Some vehicles had to be towed.
Some of the injuries may have resulted from the panic that erupted in the cafeteria following the shootings, Jim Brown of KMTR-TV in Springfield told CNN.
Springfield, a town of 50,000 people near Eugene, Oregon, is about 110 miles south of Portland.
Clinton comments
In Washington, President Clinton said "all Americans are heartbroken" by the shootings. "I would just like to say on behalf of the American people that our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the people killed and wounded," he said.
The school did not have a history of violence, local reporters said. One reporter, whose child attends the school, described it as a "good school, an upbeat school."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- 1 death reported in Oregon high school shooting - May 21, 1998
- 1 killed, 25 wounded in Oregon school shooting - May 21, 1998
- Violent crime rising at U.S. schools - April 12, 1998
- School shootings have high profile but occur infrequently - March 25, 1998
- Violence against U.S. kids is common - March 25, 1998
- Survey: Serious violence at 10 percent of schools - March 19, 1998
Related sites:
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- Springfield, Oregon Public School District
- Springfield Chamber of Commerce
- The Spencer Butte Gazette
- Welcome to Springfield, Oregon
- McKenzie Willamette Hospital
- National Center for Education Statistics
- National Alliance for Safe Schools
- Gun-free Schools Act of 1994
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