A student armed with a handgun burst into a high school classroom in eastern Wisconsin on Monday, taking more than 20 students and a teacher hostage at the end of the school day, authorities said.
A Marinette High School administrator called authorities after 3 p.m. to say a student had taken over a classroom, officials said. Police Chief Jeff Skorik said authorities had been able to communicate by phone with the teacher inside the classroom and no injuries had been reported or shots fired.
A SWAT team arrived at the school Monday evening, city councilman Bradley Behrendt said from the scene about 50 miles north of Green Bay.
"I would say there's over 100 officers here, everyone from Marinette County, Green Bay ... It's very shocking. You've just got to hope and pray no one will be hurt," Behrendt said. "They just spent a whole bundle of money on classroom doors to make them secure, but they don't have metal detectors at the school."
The police chief said 23 students were being held in the classroom along with the teacher. He said police knew the suspect's identity and investigators were interviewing that student's parents.
"We have no idea as far as motivations at this point," the chief said Monday evening.
Choral teacher Bonita Weydt said she was talking with a teacher in another classroom after school, which lets out about 3:10 p.m., when principal Corry Lambie came in.
"I said, 'Corry, what's going on?' and he said, 'Get out of the building,'" Weydt said.
Officials said said parents were asked to gather at the county courthouse, where school officials and mental health counselors were meeting with families and reviewing a class roster.
Marinette, a town of about 12,000 people, sits on the border with Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The high school has an annual enrollment of approximately 800 students, according to its website.
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