A 14-year-old student opened fire in the hallways of SuccessTech Academy high school in downtown Cleveland Wednesday afternoon (October 10), injuring five people. The student — who has been identified as Asa H. Coon, according to The Associated Press — then shot and killed himself.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson spoke to the media several hours after the incident, saying two teachers — a 57-year-old man who was later identified as David Kachadourian, and a yet-unidentified 42-year-old — were shot and injured in the incident, but that they were in stable condition. He also said that an 18-year-old male, Darnell Rodgers, was treated for a gunshot wound to the elbow and released, and that a 14-year-old male was in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the side. A fifth person, a 14-year-old female student, was also injured when she hurt her knee in the aftermath; she was treated and released.
Dr. Eugene Sanders, CEO of Cleveland's metropolitan school district, said classes would be canceled for the entire district on Thursday and that an already-scheduled day off on Friday would be used to speak to teachers about the incident and come up with strategies to avoid similar situations in the future.
Coon, who had been suspended earlier this week for fighting, entered the school with two handguns and began opening fire in the early afternoon, hitting several students on at least two floors of the school, according to CNN. While Coon was running through the halls, the principal called out a "code blue" alert, telling students to get to a safe space, with some hiding in closets or on the floors of their classrooms. Police responded to the incident within two minutes and quickly secured the building. A police spokesperson said Coon took his own life before police arrived at the school.
SuccessTech Academy, which only has 250 students and 30 teachers, was founded five years ago with help from a large grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a high-tech academy where every student was given access to their own computer and has been described as a select, "best and brightest"-style institution. One parent told CNN that the school had no metal detectors and that there was overcrowding in the classrooms. Another parent described the school as a close-knit community. Sanders said he could not recall the request from parents for metal detectors or more security at the school.
Rodgers, one of the victims, spoke to reporters after being released from the hospital. "It took me a couple minutes to realize I was actually shot," he said. "When my arm started burning, that's when I realized I was actually shot." Coon appeared to be aiming for someone else, Rodgers said, and that the bullet "probably deflected off something" and hit him in the elbow. Rodgers also expressed concern about his other classmates and teachers and said he hoped the school would implement tighter security.
Seventeen-year-old Antonio Deberry, also a student at SuccessTech Academy, said he ducked beneath a laboratory table and saw Coon walk through the hallway. "I saw him walking past. He didn't see us, we saw him," said Deberry, adding that Coon swore and shot multiple times.
Doneisha LeVert also hid, in a closet with other students, after the "code blue" alert was issued. She said students and teachers saw Coon making threats last week. "He's crazy," she said. "He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody. We didn't think nothing of it."
A friend of Coon's told CNN that the 14-year-old often talked about how he "worshiped the devil" and said if he shot up the school he would let the young man and another friend go. Fox News reported that he had a criminal and domestic-violence history.
Another student said, "I knew that dude was crazy, man. He always wore a trench coat." He also said the student wore a visible pistol belt around his leg (with no gun in it) to school on several occasions and that at least one teacher was aware of it and saw the gun belt but took no action.
A parent who is the president of the parents' association said the classrooms went from having 15 to 30 students, with overcrowding creating tensions among students. He also said there was only one security guard on duty in the building and that that person worked only the first-floor administrative level and did not walk the floors of the school, which had classrooms on the third, fourth and fifth floor. "We've been fighting to get security back for the past two or three years and they denied it," the parent told CNN. "Tension was high in the school, it was just too crowded."
The police spokesperson said it was too early to tell if Coon had any connection to the victims or if the shooting was random. It was also unclear at press time how Coon, who was not supposed to be in school on Wednesday because of the suspension, was able to gain access to the building and how he was able to bring in two handguns with him.
Go to Think MTV for additional information and resources for those concerned about violence in their own community.
[This story was originally published at 1:51 pm E.T. on 10.10.2007]
Location of Ohio within the United States.
A 14-year-old student opened fire in a Cleveland, Ohio high school today, wounding four people. The gunman then fatally shot himself.

Police were called to the scene at 1:15 p.m. EST, with reports of a gunman in the school. The gunman, 14-year-old Asa H. Coon, entered the school with a gun in each hand. Students were evacuated, with the gunman reportedly still in the building for some time afterward.

According to Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson, two adult males, ages 57 and 42, and two teenage males, ages 18 and 14, were wounded, and taken to local hospitals. A third teenager, a 14-year-old female, hurt her knee while running from the school.

A spokesperson for the hospital would not give details of the students' names or conditions, but Jackson said in an afternoon press conference that all three teenagers were in stable condition.

According to one student, 14-year-old student Michael Peek was the first person shot, after reportedly punching Coon in the face.  The student indicated that Peek did not know that Coon was armed at the time. 18-year-old student Darnell Rodgers told the media that he was the other student shot, a graze wound for which he was treated and subsequently released.

The 57-year-old teacher, David Kachadourian, was listed in good condition. 42-year-old teacher Michael Grassie was in surgery and his condition was unavailable.

The gunman was reportedly upset about a recent suspension arising from a fight that happened Monday near the school.

According to one student interviewed by ''CNN'', the gunman said he "worshiped the devil" and had mentioned committing a shooting at the school. Another student noted that the gunman often wore a trench coat and an empty pistol belt to class.

A security guard was present on the first floor of the building, but the position of a guard on the third floor was eliminated. While metal detectors were present in the building, they were not always in use; it is unclear whether they were in use at the time of the shooting.

The school, SuccessTech Academy, is a non-traditional school within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, described on their web site as a "small, nontraditional high school that provides a learning environment in which all student believe in their ability to succeed."  It opened five years ago.

SuccessTech is located on the third, fourth and fifth floors of a building in downtown Cleveland that also houses some administrative offices.

The school owes its existence in part to a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which helped to fund the creation of the school.