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09-18-2014, 11:33 AM
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Bookkeeper Talks School Gunman Into Surrender
A gunman who walked into a suburban Atlanta elementary school with a rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in August 2013 was talked into giving up by the school's front-office bookkeeper, who kept him on a 911 line until he set the weapon down. No students, staff or officers were hurt. The gunman was later identified as Michael Brandon Hill, 20. According to DeKalb County police, he slipped into Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur behind an employee shortly after 1 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2013, and made his way to the main office carrying an AK-47-style rifle and close to 500 rounds. Bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff dialed 911 and stayed on the phone with DeKalb dispatcher Kendra McCray, passing the man's demands to police while quietly feeding officers his location. On the recording, Tuff tells Hill that he has not hurt anyone and can still surrender. She talks about her own life, including raising a son with disabilities and the end of her marriage, and tells him, 'We're not gonna hate you.' Police said Hill fired several shots inside the building, some toward officers who had surrounded the campus, and that officers returned fire at one point. Teachers led students out of the school during the standoff. Hill eventually put down his rifle and ammunition and was taken into custody without anyone being injured. The call turned Tuff into a national figure. She was credited with preventing a massacre, was later reunited with McCray in a televised meeting, and received a phone call from President Barack Obama thanking her, according to news accounts at the time. On Sept. 16, 2014, Hill pleaded guilty in DeKalb County Superior Court to all counts against him, including aggravated assault, and was sentenced to 40 years, 20 in prison and 20 on probation, according to prosecutors. His lawyer described the episode as a failed suicide attempt by a man with a long history of mental illness and had asked for a shorter term with psychiatric treatment.
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