Principal shot in rural Wis. school

BuckyFan04

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Principal shot in rural Wis. school
By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago



CAZENOVIA, Wis. -A ninth-grader shot his principal three times in a rural school just before classes were to start Friday, after a custodian wrested from the boy one of the two weapons he had carried into the building, the sheriff said. No one else was hurt.

The custodian took a shotgun from the 15-year-old before the student shot Weston Schools Principal John Klang with a handgun in the hallway near the school's main entrance, Sauk County Sheriff Randy Stammen said. The student was in custody, he said.

Klang was in critical condition when he was taken by helicopter from Reedsburg Area Medical Center to UW Hospitals in Madison, hospital spokespeople said.

Authorities did not know the student's motive and did not know if Klang was the intended target, Stammen said.

The student walked into the school about 8 a.m. and shot Klang three times as the principal approached and others tried to disarm the teenager, Stammen said.

Junior Timmy Donovan saw the student walk into the school with a shotgun.

"The janitor grabbed it away from him," Donovan said. "And as he was walking away he pulled a .22 pistol out of his pants, and then started shooting the principal. And at that point, I guess the principal ran and tackled him to the ground, and then he had other teachers going over and helping him."

Children from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade attend the small school near Cazenovia, a community of about 300 people about 60 miles northwest of Madison.

Sophomore Shelly Rupp said she heard five shots and ran out of the school, but turned around and saw Klang as he was shot.

"He was laying on the ground in the hallway," the 16-year-old said at a nearby gas station where students and townspeople gathered following the shooting. "He had just a pile of blood by his leg."

Rupp described the shooter as a freshman with few friends and said he was "just weird in the head."

"He always used to kid around about bringing things to school and hurting kids," she said.

Investigators were interviewing witnesses, but other high school students were brought into the elementary school gym to talk to counselors if they wanted, authorities said. Younger students were bused home.

The shooting took place two days after a gunman took six students hostage in a Colorado high school and killed one before shooting himself.

School officials said Klang has more than 20 years of experience with the district, beginning as a school board member, and described him as kind, compassionate and soft-spoken.

Rupp called Klang a good principal who always listened to his students. Resident Laurie Rhea, 42, said Klang had spent last weekend at the gas station washing cars for a homecoming fundraiser.

"It's horrible. All the kids just loved him," she said.

The shooting happened as the school was preparing for homecoming weekend. School officials said all homecoming activities, including a parade, a football game and dance, have been canceled or postponed.


This is very sad... :sad2:
 
This is a horrible situation. We had a similar one at the HS my son graduated from. It is frightening for the students and the community. My prayers go out for all.

My DS is going to be a HS teacher and I am very proud of his career choice as we need more good, male teachers but I am also afraid of his choice. Educators face such turmoil in our school systems (not all of the systems) these days that it's a wonder young people want to enter the teaching profession. He is doing it because he wants to make a difference and I say he will!!!

Again, my prayers go out for all affected.
 
It makes me sick. The school was pre-K through high school. They're could have been small children there. :furious: It makes me sick. I hate the thought of sending my girls to school when the time comes.
 
That's very sad. My kids go to a smaller high school and I always think that maybe they could stop this kind of thing from happening at our school because the teachers know all the kids well and they can keep track of them because there are fewer of them but I guess that's not necessarily true.
 

Thanks for posting this. I'd read another article on this on Bell South' web page but it didn't say if the man had died at the scene or not? They had lurid details of those poor girls being molested at that other school shooting (TMI if you ask me) but they don't think if this man lived or died was as important to share with the world as the sexual assualt of young girls :sad2: . I guess that shows us what they think sells.
 
ticktock said:
Thanks for posting this. I'd read another article on this on Bell South' web page but it didn't say if the man had died at the scene or not? They had lurid details of those poor girls being molested at that other school shooting (TMI if you ask me) but they don't think if this man lived or died was as important to share with the world as the sexual assualt of young girls :sad2: . I guess that shows us what they think sells.

As far as I know he's alive & having surgery at UW Hospital.
 
BuckyFan04 said:
Principal shot in rural Wis. school
By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press Writer

Sophomore Shelly Rupp said she heard five shots and ran out of the school, but turned around and saw Klang as he was shot.

"He was laying on the ground in the hallway," the 16-year-old said at a nearby gas station where students and townspeople gathered following the shooting. "He had just a pile of blood by his leg."

Rupp described the shooter as a freshman with few friends and said he was "just weird in the head."

"He always used to kid around about bringing things to school and hurting kids," she said.

The whole thing is so sad, but this part really caught my eye. There seem to always be warning signs in situations like this. I think we need to beat it into our kids that they need to report talk like this. Schools should allow it to be done anonymously.
 
That's what I jjst heard as well...how sad.

agnes!
 
This really is getting to be too much. I don't even know what to say at this point. It is really getting out of control and if it is metal detectors and frequent locker searches and more police officers in the schools, locked doors, whatever - they have got to start doing it. I'm becoming very afraid of sending my DS to school next fall...
 
Our girls high school has had 2 recent bomb threats... we also live in rural Wisconsin. After the one last night they threatened to take away Homecoming & ban backpacks and purses. I think schools need to step up security somehow. It's sad that it's all come to this.
 
mommy*RN said:
This really is getting to be too much. I don't even know what to say at this point. It is really getting out of control and if it is metal detectors and frequent locker searches and more police officers in the schools, locked doors, whatever - they have got to start doing it. I'm becoming very afraid of sending my DS to school next fall...

I agree. At the very least there needs to be guards at the doors & metal detectors. I'm scared too.
 
:sad2:

How terrible! What has happened to kids? I just do not understand at all.

The rage and fury you see in some today is unmatched by anything I have ever witnessed.

DD's kindergarten teacher last year was in tears a few days last year. She had a student in the class who was very violent and full of anger. he was always being suspended. He actually told her, in front of the class that he was going to, "bring a gun to school and shoot you dead!" This was KINDERGARTEN! I don't get it. I will never forget her telling me about this....it made me fearful for her, and even more so to send my own child back to school.

:sad2: :sad2:
 


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