#NEWS : Police: Gun-toting student holding hostages at Wisconsin high school

By the CNN Wire Staff

November 30, 2010 -- Updated 0151 GMT (0951 HKT)

Parents congregated near the school waiting for word on the hostage situation Monday evening.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Young male, armed with handgun, takes 23 students and a teacher hostage
• NEW: There have been no reports of injuries or shots fired, the town's police chief says
• NEW: Police says the hostage-taking student acted alone, don't know his motiviation
• The incident happened in Marinette, on Lake Michigan about 50 miles north of Green Bay

Are you there? Tell iReport what you see.
Get the local report from WBAY.

(CNN) -- A handgun-toting student is holding 23 classmates and a teacher hostage inside a room at a northeast Wisconsin high school, police said Monday night.

The young male took over the classroom sometime near the end of the school day Monday, preventing anyone from leaving and eventually communicating with police through ateacher, Marinette Police Chief Jeffrey Skorik told reporters.

Refuting rumors circulating on social media sites, Skorik said authorities did not believe anyone had been hurt thus far at Marinette High School or that any shots had been fired.

The chief said that the student had no previous run-ins with the law, adding that it wasn't clear why he took hostages.

"We have no idea, as far as his motivation at this point," Skorik said.

A school administrator called police at 3:48 p.m. (4:48 p.m. ET) Monday, after most students had left for the day, reporting that an armed student had gone into a classroom and taken those inside hostage.

About 40 law enforcement personnel converged on the scene, including hostage negotiators who set up inside the school, according to Skorik. They had not talked directly with the student some three hours into the incident, but did get regular updates from the teacher.

Skorik said that the hostage-taker is a student at Marinette High, and that he believed -- though he could not confirm -- was assigned to the class that he took over.

Police know the identity of the student, though they haven't name him publicly, and have talked with his family members. Skorik said law enforcement believe the the young male, armed with a single handgun, is acting alone.

Law enforcement urged parents who didn't know their children's whereabouts to go to the Marinette County Courthouse, where they could see those on the affected class's roster, talk with police and get help from mental-health counselors.

Dozens of students and family members also gathered at a nearby hair salon, and the street to the high school was blocked off, according to CNN affiliate WBAY.

Marinette has about 11,600 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Bordering Lake Michigan, the city is just over 50 miles north of Green Bay.

Sphere: Related Content