Teen gunman surrenders after holding elementary class hostage in Arizona

Students were evacuated to a nearby high school in Glendale, Arizona, on Tuesday

GLENDALE, Arizona (CNN) -- An armed former student surrendered to police Tuesday after he held students and a teacher hostage for about an hour at an elementary school in this Phoenix suburb, police said.

No shots were fired, and no one was injured, according to Glendale Police spokesman Matt Brown. "Through some negotiations with our SWAT team, he came out peacefully," Brown said. "We have a successful conclusion."

The juvenile gunman "came here with a purpose, but thank goodness he didn't carry it out," Brown said. "Who knows his mental state," he said.

School officials said the boy was armed with a 9 mm pistol. Asked about the weapon, Brown said, "There was a handgun in the room, but I don't know if it was loaded."

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The students and teacher were held in a portable classroom at Pioneer Elementary School, part of the Peoria Unified School District. The school is located about eight miles from Phoenix.

As police negotiated with the suspect, other students could be seen being evacuated hand-in-hand from the school. They were transferred to a nearby high school to be reunited with their parents.

The school-aged gunman surrendered to a police SWAT team

"There was pretty much a full classroom" when the suspect entered, Brown said. The boy released some students as negotiations went on, and some students remained in the classroom as the suspect surrendered.

Brown said the suspect was a 13- or 14-year-old boy who had attended the kindergarten through eighth-grade school.

Brown said the situation might have been prompted by an argument or disagreement between the suspect and some of the other students.

Kelly Bell, a spokeswoman for the Peoria Unified School District, said that in the wake of the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, her district had been running drills to prepare for such an event. "Everybody has been trained" on how to react if a gun situation occurred, she said.

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Glendale, AZ Police Department
Peoria Unified School District #11 - Arizona
Peoria
Pioneer Elementary School
Pioneer Elementary School info
Cactus High School

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