Not good for the CCW-in-schools movement, I daresay, if the shooter is a student.
Shooting reported at South Mountain Community College
July 24, 2008
http://news.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=909460
A man opened fire Thursday afternoon in a computer room at South Mountain Community College, wounding three people, two critically, authorities said. A man suspected of being the shooter was later taken into custody.
The shooting occurred about 4 p.m.
Phoenix police spokesman Ruben Gonzales said the suspect was arrested at a home about three to four miles away, near 22nd Avenue and Broadway Road.
The suspect, who hasn't been identified, was arrested after police took a description of the man from witnesses.
"We then, using that information, were able to locate a possible suspect who we then detained," Gonzales said. "At that point, our officers were conducting what is called a one-on-one identification with that possible suspect, using the witnesses, and they positively identified this person."
The shooting allegedly occurred after a fight in the school's computer lab.
The victims were transported to a county hospital.
CBS-5's Tammy Leightner spoke to the father of a 22-year-old victim in and said he is living every parent's nightmare.
"He said that his daughter, after she was shot, she called her mother on the phone," Leightner said. "Her mother was able to get over to the school in time to ride in the ambulance over here to the hospital. He was standing here waiting for them. Obviously, obviously distraught. He did not know the extent of his daughter's injuries. He just said that they are very bad."
The man Leightner spoke to said his daughter is a pharmacy student at the college. She was reported to be in critical condition.
A 25-year-old man is also in critical condition, while a 17-year-old boy was in stable condition, said Mark Faulkner, a division chief for the Phoenix Fire Department. No other information on their injuries was available.
Yessenia Lara was in the computer lab when she heard the shooting rang out and said she thought the argument she overheard was someone joking.
She told reporters the gunman said something before the shots rang out. "He just said 'do something,' like ‘do something about it,' because they were arguing."
Lara said people were screaming following the shooting, and that she ran to a phone and called police.
College spokesman Robert Pryce said the school was in lockdown for about an hour, meaning doors were locked and people weren't able to come in or out.
An electronic sign outside the school said all classes were canceled Thursday and students could be seen leaving the campus calmly. Pryce said the campus would be closed on Friday, which is typical during the summer.
Situated at the base of Phoenix's South Mountain, the college has more than 8,000 students each year. Its student body is made up mainly of people seeking associate degrees and certificates of completion.