US school hostage-taking ends with all freed

A teacher and all 20 students taken hostage by a student armed with a handgun at a Wisconsin school were released unharmed Monday after a several-hour ordeal, an official said.

"The incident has been resolved," said Eric Burmeister, the director of emergency management in Marinette, Wisconsin. "All 20 students have been released unharmed. Students are now being reunited with their families."

How the situation came to an end as well as the condition of the gunman were not known, but police scheduled a press conference later in the evening.

The hostage situation began to change at approximately 7:50 pm (0050 GMT), when the gunman released five students who were subsequently questioned by local authorities who were trying to determine the motives of the gunman, according to Burmeister.

The hostage-taker, an unidentified student, entered the classroom toward the end of the school day, around 3:00 pm (2000 GMT).

Police Chief Jeffrey Skorik said hostage negotiators were at the scene, and police were interviewing the suspect's parents about potential motives. 

Police were able to contact the captive teacher over the phone, he added.

As far as authorities could determine, he said, the gunman acted alone and was restricted to one location.

"We have no reason to believe that we have more than one actor," Skorik said.

The make and model of the handgun that was used was unknown.

Skorik said reports that some people had been injured in the hostage-taking were wrong.
"There have been some serious injuries reported on Facebook that we know are not true," he told reporters.

Marinette is north of the city of Green Bay, near Michigan's upper peninsula.

Marinette High School has approximately 700 students. Police closed off all roads around the school.