Two dead after standoff

Heather Rawlyk

Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004 | 11:23 a.m.

A gunman apparently motivated by jealousy killed a man in front of a Henderson elementary school Wednesday afternoon then ran through the school halls before being shot and killed by police during a standoff in front of the campus.

Henderson Police said they received a call at 4:49 p.m. saying that shots had been fired in the vicinity of Fay Galloway Elementary School, 701 Skyline Road, near Horizon Drive.

The suspect had walked up to a man sitting inside a red Pontiac in the parking lot of the school, got into the vehicle and shot the man in the car, killing him, Deputy Chief James White said.

The gunman then ran down the halls of the school searching for his ex-girlfriend, intending to shoot and kill her, White said. Teachers and 27 children locked themselves in a teachers' lounge.

When he couldn't find his ex-girlfriend, the suspect then went back to the parking lot and sat in the Pontiac with the body of the man he had allegedly killed, White said.

That dead man was the woman's current boyfriend, police said.

Police, not knowing the condition of the driver, approached the car. Police asked the suspect to put his gun down several times, Officer Shane Lewis said.

After the suspect allegedly threatened police, officers shot him while he was still inside the Pontiac, killing him. Police said they fired at the suspect believing they could rescue driver.

"Police planned to approach the vehicle and check the condition of the victim," Lewis said. "They were faced with a situation where they had to shoot the (suspect)."

Laurell Martin, who lives in the neighborhood adjacent to the school, said she saw the shooting from her friend's front yard, which also served as the police command post.

"I was at my friend's house on the corner of Appian Way when all the commotion started," Martin said.

"We could see the whole thing. We heard police scream over a bullhorn, 'If you can hear us, flash your lights,' and they were telling the man to get out of the car."

Martin said she could hear police trying to negotiate with the suspect.

"They were yelling to let him go, let the hostage go," she said. "They were yelling that everything would be fine and to let the man go. I guess they didn't know the hostage was already dead."

Then came a giant boom, Martin said.

"We heard a big loud boom and then came the gunfire," she said. "There was all this rapid fire and everyone started moving. I heard them yelling 'He's down,' and everyone rushed around."

Lewis said police believe the woman was at the school to pick up a child and the victim had been waiting for them to come out to the car when he was shot.

The woman was not injured, police said.

The Clark County coroner's office did not release the victims' names this morning.

Dave Epperson, a Galloway teacher, said he was in the school hallway when he was approached by the ex-girlfriend of the gunman.

"A woman really scared for her life was screaming that her ex had shot and killed her friend," he said. "She was really scared and said he was coming to kill her too. It made me really scared. We were both very scared."

Epperson said the school went into its lock-down mode and 27 students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade who take part in the Safekey after-school program hurried into the teachers lounge.

"We do lock-down drills all the time, so they knew what to do," he said.

None of the children or teachers inside the school were injured, police said.

The Safekey students were transported to Black Mountain Recreation Center by bus just east of the school on Horizon Drive and then were released to their parents, said Dirk Richwine, the assistant director of Henderson Parks and Recreation, which runs the Safekey program.

"Our staff did a near flawless implementation of our pre-established safety precautions and because of that there (were) no problems," he said this morning.

Clark County School District dispatched a crisis management team to the school this morning to assist any students or teachers who needed support or counseling, Pat Nelson, district spokeswoman, said.

The team and the school's principal met with the school staff to talk to them about what happened and how to deal with students' questions about the shootings.

Parents who were walking their children to Fay Galloway Elementary this morning said they were shocked by the shootings but confident the school was now safe.

"It's terrible, it's really shocking," Robert Cochrane said. "It's always really quiet around here."

Cochrane, who lives just a few blocks south of the school, thought about keeping his grandson home today because he was not sure what was going on. He changed his mind when he saw how quiet things were at the school this morning.

Like many parents, he and his grandson heard a loud boom Wednesday afternoon and then saw helicopters and police cruisers surrounding the school.

"You are stunned when you hear all this at the beginning," Cochrane said. "At first you think they have the wrong school, that it can't happen here."

The children were almost excited about the incident, asking questions and talking about what had happened, crossing guards Bob Lawton and Salvatore Colaluca said.

"At that age, kids take it as excitement instead of fear," Lawton said.

Most saw the shootings as an isolated incident, not something to be afraid of, Colaluca said.

"This is an unusual situation," Colaluca said. "This school here really has no problems. We've got good kids and good parents."

Danni Mills, who had a kindergartner and a fourth grader at the school, said she had her children watch the news this morning so they knew everything was taken care of and the school was now safe.

Andrea Barber said she also had to explain what happened to her three children. She felt they was no danger at the school because police had "gotten rid" of the man who did the shooting.

"My kids were afraid to come to school today, so we had to talk about the incident and what happened and that the police had taken care of it," Barber said.