SAVANNAH - For the second Wednesday in a row, the words "Code 4" locked down Hardin County High School and had law enforcement scrambling onto the campus here when a 17-year-old student shot himself in a restroom.
The shooting came one week after a man shot and wounded his estranged wife before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide. That incident happened Jan. 17 in the parking lot of a flower shop that is located right across Pickwick Street from the high school.
The 17-year-old junior shot himself in the head with a .25-caliber pistol...
Savannah Police Chief Donald Derr said the incident was captured on a video.
"The situation was picked up on a hall video camera that could see into the public area around the sinks of the restroom," Derr said. "From what we saw, it appears consistent with an attempted suicide."
Derr said there was one other student in the washroom at the time of the incident. "He came from the rear of the restroom, saw what happened and called for help," the chief said.
...airlifted to The Regional Medical Center in Memphis, where he was listed in critical condition Wednesday (Jan. 24). His name is omitted from this article because he is a juvenile.
Within minutes, the Savannah Police and Fire Departments, Hardin County Sheriff's deputies and officers from the Tennessee Highway Patrol and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation descended on the school. As news spread through the county, so did a small army of parents eager to take their children home.
After early confusion, school officials worked out a system to let parents in a few at a time to a front-entrance table where they could check out students. Classes remained in session until the 3 p.m. dismissal, but by 1 p.m., 750 of the school's 1,240 students had left for the day.
(Principal Bobby) McAdams said "I try to be able to read the faces of all of our kids. This was a young man who you'd say was normal. This shocks you, and it leaves you sad."
Posted by Stubbornson at January 30, 2007 01:16 PM