Just weeks after a school shooting in Montreal took the life of a student, officials in another North American city are involved in a tense standoff.
The location this time is the small town of Bailey, Colorado about 55 kilometres from Denver.
An adult gunman entered Platte Canyon High School Wednesday afternoon and took two young girls hostage. It's not clear what the man's motive may be. The bomb squad has also been called to the scene after the gunman apparently told police he had an explosive device and a loud noise was heard.
Witnesses say shots have been fired, but there's no word on any injuries. It's now being reported that six people were originally taken captive but four were released.
The affected school has about 460 students enrolled and all have been evacuated. A nearby campus has also been cleared.
Adding to the chaos - parents can't get to where their children have been taken because the main highway in and out of town has been shut down.
"I'm just terrified. I'm terrified," admits Sherry Husen, whose son is safe. "I know so many kids in that school."
She came to Bailey from Denver 14 years ago to escape just this kind of violence. But she knows there's no safe place anymore. "We moved up here for the mountain solitude, and I just never thought this would happen in this school, but it happens everywhere," she agrees.
Colorado is especially sensitive to these kinds of situations. It's the same state where students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold staged their attack on Columbine High School in 1999. They killed 13 and wounded 24 before taking their own lives, in the worst school shooting spree in North American history.
Just two weeks ago, Montreal was reeling from a similar incident, when gunman Kimveer Gill burst into Dawson College in the centre of the city and began randomly firing at students. He killed one of them and wounded at least a dozen more before turning the gun on himself.
-- Edited by Motown Junkie at 17:32, 2006-09-27
__________________
Knock people down at their own expense, they'll take it as a compliment!!!!
