Knoxville School Shooting Victim Dead; Officials Here Clarifying Location

By The Continuous News Desk

Published: August 21, 2008

UPDATE: (1:27 p.m.) by Yasmeen Elayan:

Knoxville Chief Deputy Bill Roehl confirmed the student’s death around 10 this morning.
According to news reports, the victim was Ryan McDonald, a Central High School junior.

The suspect in the shooting - another student who was arrested just minutes after the shooting.
Police say this was *not* a random act of violence.   

More on this developing story tonight beginning at 5.
*********************
Update at 10:24 a.m.

Jack Barnes, the director of schools in Sullivan County, Tenn., is clarifying for concerned parents that today’s incident did not happen in Sullivan County, but instead at a Knoxville school by the same name.  He has advised that school is being conducted on a regular basis at Sullivan Central High School.

On Thursday morning a student was fatally shot in the cafeteria of Knoxville’s Central High School. In an e-mail to News Channel 11, Barnes apologized for the confusion caused by the similarity in names between the high school in Knoxville where the shooting occured and Sullivan Central, which is located in Blountville, Tenn.

Barnes added that Sullivan Central has informed students about the shooting in order to prevent any confusion on their part.

“We are saddened to hear about thet very unfortunate incident at Knoxville Central High School. But Sullivan Central in Northeast Tennessee is operating on a regular school bases and everything is in proper order in the school.“ Barnes wrote.

Update at 10:07 a.m.:

The Knoxville News Sentinal is reporting that the Central High student died after being shot while inside the school cafeteria.  You can follow thier coverage here:
http://www.knoxnews.com/

#####
Update at 9:58 a.m.:

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Police say they’ve taken a suspect into
custody after a shooting in the cafeteria of a Knoxville, Tenn.
high school.
    The shooting at Central High School was reported to police at
about 8:10 Thursday morning.
    Police spokesman Darryl DeBusk says police took a suspect into
custody six minutes later near the school and recovered the gun.
    A 16-year-old student was wounded and taken to a local hospital.
There was no immediate word on his condition.
    The school was placed on lockdown after the shooting. School
officials were preparing to release students one classroom at a
time, then bus them to a church so they could be picked up by their
parents.

#####

Here’s the first report from the Associated Press:
———————————————————————————————————-

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Police in Knoxville confirmed a shooting occurred Thursday morning at Central High School. The Knoxville News Sentinel reported on its Web site that an armed suspect was taken into custody several blocks away from the school building. At least one person was reported wounded. There was no immediate word on the condition of the wounded person.