Michael Brandon Hill identified as man in custody for Atlanta school shooting, Antoinette Tuff a hero
A suspect was in custody after reports of gunfire at an Atlanta-area elementary school Tuesday, the school chief said, with television footage showing young students running out the school being escorted by teachers and police. A school aide reportedly talked the shooter into surrendering.
Michael Brandon Hill
Michael Brandon Hill, age 20, was wearing all black and was armed with an AK-47 assault-style rifle when he fired about six shots at police before surrendering peacefully when they returned fire, officials said.
“We were … lucky we didn’t have anyone killed in the school,” Vernon Keenan, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Investigators examined what they believed to be the man’s car after police dogs indicated the presence of explosives, Alexander said.
Police later said no explosives were found.
Television footage showed students being evacuated from Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur, a few miles east of Atlanta, and sitting outside in a field about 1:30 p.m. School buses were being brought in to take children to their parents at a nearby Wal-Mart.
According to WSB-TV’s website, a woman in the school office called to say a gunman asked her to contact the Atlanta station and police. WSB said during the call, shots could be heard in the background.
School clerk Antoinette Tuff said she worked to convince the gunman to put down his weapons and ammunition.
“He told me he was sorry for what he was doing. He was willing to die,” Tuff said in an interview on ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer.
She said she told him her life story, including about the end of her marriage after 33 years.
“I told him, ‘OK, we all have situations in our lives,” she said. “It was going to be OK. If I could recover, he could, too.”
Tuff said she asked the suspect to put his weapons and backpack down.
“I told the police he was giving himself up. I just talked him through it,” she said.
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