Two heavily armed boys wearing camouflage clothing and hiding among trees fired on a.
group of their middle school classmates and teachers as they scurried outside during a false fire.
alarm. Once the students and staff began to emerge from the school building, they were greeted.
with a hail of gunfire. The ambush left four students and a teacher dead and 11 others wounded.
Police apprehended two suspects-ages 11 and 13- just minutes after the midday shooting.
outside Westside Middle School in the quiet town of Jonesboro, Ark. Authorities said the boys.
were running away and were apprehended a few hundred yards from the shooting scene. It was.
unclear whether one of the boys or a third person pulled the alarm. The suspects were armed.
with handguns and rifles, some of which appeared to be semi-automatics. Two rifles and other.
weapons were seized by police officials.
Police said they arrived within four minutes of being notified of the shootings, which.
began shortly after noon. They immediately encountered a bloody, chaotic scene of screaming.
students, staff, and stunned victims. Police authorities said that all but one of the shooting.
victims-including the five fatalities-were female, none of them were older than the age of 12. A.
teacher died later on that night after surgery for wounds to her chest and abdomen. The incident.
stunned longtime residents of this town, about 130 miles northeast of Little Rock. "We really.
haven't nailed down the why' yet. What would encourage 11- and 13-year old boys to grab a.
gun and shoot kids they've gone to school with all their lives? - said Bob Troutt assistant.
publisher of the Jonesboro Sun. Troutt said that guns and hunting are a normal part of growing.
up in the region and that "kids here are very much able to shoot weapons."" Local schools even.
grant a few days' holiday at the opening of deer season.
Educators called the attack one of the most extreme incidents of violence ever at a school.