Elementary School Clerk Says She Convinced Gunman to Put His Weapons Down and Surrender

[Robb]

As a gunman terrorized an Atlanta-area elementary school today, a school clerk said she was the one who convinced him to empty his pockets and backpack of ammunition and to get down on the floor so police could apprehend him.

In an exclusive interview on "World News with Diane Sawyer," Antoinette Tuff described how she watched the suspect -- Michael Brandon Hill, 20, from the Atlanta area, officials and sources said -- load up with ammunition in front of her and several other employees who were being held hostage.

"I saw a young man ready to kill anybody that he could and take any lives he wanted to," Tuff said.

The lone suspect entered Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur, Ga., this afternoon carrying an AK-47 assault rifle and other weapons, said Chief Cedric Alexander of the Dekalb Police.

Read More: http://abcnews.go.com/US/gunman-arrested-georgia-school-shooting/story?id=20014879

And did it without being armed herself.

[rdharma]

1. But this sort of thing is very rare!

[femmocrat]

2. I would like to know how he got into the school.

Has anyone heard?

[Robb]

3. Police are saying he followed in someone authorized to enter

...then barricaded himself inside an administrative office and forced an employee to call the local TV station.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-georgia-elementary-school-shooting-20130820,0,519503.story

[femmocrat]

5. Thanks.

That secretary was really brave, God bless her! Amazing how she kept her cool.

[aikoaiko]

4. I'm glad this dangerous situation didn't end in tragedy.