Illinois student, 14, fires gun in class

NORMAL, Ill. -- A teacher tackled a 14-year-old student and detained him just after the teen fired a gunshot into the ceiling of a packed Illinois high school classroom Friday, police and witnesses said. No one was injured.

The boy was taken into custody and questioned by police while Normal Community High School's more than 1,800 students were moved to a nearby church where parents could pick them up, Normal police Chief Rick Bleichner said.

Investigators weren't sure how the handgun was brought to school or why, and as far as they knew no one in particular was targeted, Bleichner said.

"How he obtained that weapon, we're still investigating that," the police chief said.

A student who was in the classroom said the gunman walked to the front of the room and pulled from a backpack the gun, a hatchet, a canteen he said was full of kerosene and a bottle of what he said were painkillers.

"I heard the teacher say 'Please, no!' So I looked up and he had pulled out a weapon and pistol, and said, 'Now it's time for you guys to listen to me,' " Sean Kennedy, 14, told WGLT radio in Bloomington.

Both Bleichner and Kennedy said a few students managed to slip out of the room, and Kennedy said that led the shooter to fire the first shot into the ceiling. The shooter told at least one student he wouldn't hurt them, Kennedy said, and after lining up the remaining students against a wall complained that no one was willing to listen to him about unspecified problems. The shooter set the gun down and turned away from it.

"My teacher, he stood up and ran, grabbed the gun and then he [the shooter] jumped on top of the teacher's back," Kennedy said, adding that a second shot was fired during the struggle.

Officers who entered the classroom just after 8 a.m. found the teacher had the student under control, Bleichner said. The teacher's name was not released.

Parents were told about the incident through the school's electronic alert system and told later in the morning to pick up their children at the church, said Superintendent Gary Niehaus.

Classes are expected to resume Monday, Niehaus said, and potential changes such as the addition of metal detectors were being discussed.