WALPOLE, N.H. — A teen who shot himself in the face in a crowded elementary school cafeteria in southwestern New Hampshire had residents Saturday asking how he got a gun into school and expressing concern for his classmates.
The 14-year-old, identified by a relative and fellow students as Hunter Mack, was hospitalized after shooting himself around 11 a.m. Friday at Walpole Elementary, officials said. Police locked down the school for several hours, but no one else was injured.
He might have been upset about a “relationship issue” with a girl, Cheshire County Attorney Peter Heed told The Associated Press.
“It clearly involved a relationship issue; I think that is fair to say,” Heed said.
The boy was in serious condition in intensive care Friday. Hospital officials would not confirm he had been taken there and family members did not return messages seeking an update on his condition Saturday.
Heed said investigators will interview students, staff and teachers to try to determine how the boy got the gun and how he got it into school. He declined to say what type of gun the boy used.
The shooting “appears to be self-inflicted, and now the focus is on what happened, why it happened, how he got the gun,” Heed said.
The shooting alarmed residents. On Saturday, people milled through the heart of downtown Walpole, a town of about 3,000 several miles from the Vermont state line.
“There was a pall over this town yesterday,” said Max Imhoff, who lives in Walpole. “Everybody was just walking around with long faces.”
Meredith O’Neil, 24, a French teacher in nearby Saxton’s River, said she happened to be driving by the school shortly after the shooting. She described seeing police cars and parents, mouths covered in disbelief.
When she learned what happened, one of her first thoughts, she said, was of the students who witnessed the shooting and how they will process what they saw.
“It’s a hard realization thinking about the fragility of life,” she said. “It’s so hard to understand what happened and why it happened.”
Mack had been passing notes during the week saying he was depressed, but it wasn’t clear why, Nick Phillips, an eighth-grader in Mack’s homeroom, has said.
Susan Parry of Claremont said she hoped some good could come out of the shooting.
“We need to teach children that when your friends are talking about suicide to tell a trusted adult,” she said. “We need to all use this as an educational opportunity.”
About a dozen or so vehicles were in the parking lot of the elementary school Saturday, where counselors were available. School will go on as scheduled Monday, said Superintendent Debra Livingston, but the students’ needs would change that as necessary.
“This is a very tender time for us,” she said. “We’re a tight-knit school.”
A retired teacher concurred, saying he couldn’t imagine such violence at the school, which he called “the ideal place to teach.”
“I was just shocked,” said Bill Perron, 66, who taught sixth-grade math and science at Walpole Elementary until he retired in 2002. “I just can’t imagine what the parents of those kids are going through.”
He said his granddaughter was in the cafeteria during the shooting, but said she was doing OK.
The whys were on John Mills’ mind Saturday as he visited his daughter, who works in downtown Walpole.
“How does a kid get a gun into school?” he said. “How can this happen?”
The anti gun zealots will be out today.
Yea I know …. If all kids had guns in school they’d be much less violence,
Right – the standard NRA-style response to this is going to be a call for all middle school teachers to be armed to protect themselves against guns in the classroom.
And with obvious reason, so, what’s your point?
How many more kids have to be shot before something is done about this BULLYING?…oh I mean infatuation with girls?
we all know that girls are the root of all evil as is proven by this:
http://www.robertpate.net/graphics/GirlsEvil.jpg
How does one think a kid would get a gun in school?-put it in his backpack like anything else he brings. Not many schools in Maine check all backpacks before school; we do not have full body scans. We will probably have them soon; hopefully, after I retire.
I just hope you aren’t an English teacher…
It’s devastating and tragic to have such an incident occur that will scar these students for the rest of their lives, including the victim. As stated in the article, “We need to all use this as an educational opportunity”, true but unfortunately the damage has already been done for everyone involved. A child shouldn’t be able to obtain a firearm and carry it around the school all morning long without any recognition of abnormal activity. The students are expected to listen to the teacher, but it seems the school officials aren’t following their own expectations of listening. Lately the school systems have been focused on quantity over quality which is damaging to the entire institution of education. The only excuse is funding or “lack of resources”, but education isn’t about profit, it’s about instilling cognitive abilities and demeanor to ultimately become a diligent citizen who functions independently in society… At least that is my ideal of an education.
Thank god there were no ricochets
what if some one shot your child instead of himself ? we deserve freedom to carry arms but I dont believe that everyone is responsible enough to own weapons. I feel a gun is not a needed item in my car or on my person every day.
Having a gun on you every day is needed unless you can see the future and know which days you won’t need to carry it and which days you will need to carry it. I don’t think you’ll get a text message from a criminal announcing which day he’ll choose to rob you, car jack you or murder you.
You’re correct, not everyone is responsible enough to own weapons that’s why there are laws in place to prevent minors from having access to a weapon. We’re not supposed to have to worry about our children getting shot at school, it’s the responsibility of the school, and yes the parents, to make sure a weapon doesn’t make it through the door.
This minor shot his first deer at 14 and how did he get a gun and please dont put the schools first in responsibility its the parents primary role to know what those in their care are doing. yes it was a lot easier when I grew up, wish me luck in Somerville in the am unarmed.
Sorry, I don’t rely on luck it has a tendency to run out when you most need it but I will pray for your safety.
That is your right. It is my right to carry one as do many people. Having a weapon is like car insurance you hope you never need it but you always have it just in case. Just as a note here up into the 70’s many kids up here in northern Maine anyway ( that part of Maine north of Bangor ) kids where allowed to bring firearms to school and keep them in there lockers. They hunted on the way to and the way home form school. That was of course when people has respect for one another and people depended on there families and not government handouts.
I agree with you 100% big point is respecting others rights .
Things sure have changed! I, too, was encouraged to bring my rifle and ammo to school when I moved to Maine in the late 60’s. We didn’t have lockers so the guns were on a shelf at the back of the room. We took the ammo and wrote our names on the boxes and put them in an unlocked drawer in the teachers desk. After school we would sometimes go to the dump and shoot rats with the police chief. Taught us proper gun handling and safety. I NEVER remember any incidents and anyone could have walked off with our guns when unattended but none were ever missing. Of course, that was when we could all leave our car keys in the ignition in the parking lot at school. I sure miss those days.
“…when people had respect for one another..”
This is your key phrase!
Same here, only in my day the school officials wanted you to keep them in your car/truck locked up. Not out of fear any student hurting another, more out of fear of your shotgun or rifle being stolen. We all had knives in our pockets too, oh my!
If you don’t believe you need a gun in your car or on your person, that is fine. However, that does not mean the rest of us cannot or should not carry a gun (legally of course).
I feel more comfortable knowing that if somebody broke into my home while I am here, I can protect my family (while others can hide in the corner, call 9-1-1, and hope to live to tell the story.
I respect your opinion and methods ,many of my friends trek off to hunt every year and I”m sure they have a great time even when they come home empty handed.
I appreciate that you respect the 2nd amendment but you seem to be hung up on hunting.
sorry if it seems that way I dont hunt out of choice, rather enjoy the great outdoors on foot in all seasons I do enjoy my buddies “beast Feast” cooking all their catches . I get invited simply because we all enjoy the food, each other, plus their “one that got away stories” and I make a mean Lemon Pie.
There were all kinds of laws, already in place, that made it illegal for that boy to possess a firearm, to bring it to school, and to use it to attempt to commit suicide. What more laws would you suggest, and how would you suggest that they be enforced?
People take guns into school houses regularly and shoot lots of innocent people. I could recite the names of several but we all know them. An armed man went into a school in Redlake, MN, approached the 2 (unarmed “security guards”) and shot them down in cold blood.
A determined individual could take a weapon into almost any school house in the country, totally illegal under federal and state laws already, yet not one person could stop him. Want to put “moats” around schools and put alligators in the moats?
How come your “laws” don’t stop this stuff already, god knows we have enough of them on the books.
so sad
Shame on you. You’re more concerned with your precious guns than than you are with the victims of this tragedy. There is a time and place for everything, and your suggestion is revolting.
Yes we are. As in many previous cases the ability of those to completely disregard the Constitution and the bill of rights to further there agenda is clear. Lets look at the facts here. this kid BROKE the law. First he acquired a firearm then brought it to school. I do not know that states laws as far as age for a person to own a firearm but it is illegal to have on in school. Next he attempted suicide also illegal. Next he put those around him in danger again illegal. Now what about holding the person who BROKE the law accountable for what HE did and not blame the tool he used. I would bet if he had went into the bathroom and hung himself nobody would be spouting rope control.
I am sad the kid thought this was his only way out. If he had had more self confidence maybe it would have some out different. Maybe if his parents or his classmates where a bit more attentive this could have been prevented.
Well said. Most of the anti gun crowd will never get it because they only select what parts of the constitution work for them. They do not want to learn about guns and usually class us AMERICANS that believe in our country and the constitution some kind of right wing nuts that can’t wait to have a Sarah Palin tea party conservative in the White House. That profile fits many of us but not all. I am with a large group of individuals that believe in the 2nd amendment for many reasons our founding fathers did. It seems that most people think guns are used for self protection from scum and criminals and that is very true. Our founding fathers knew from their previous experience that in their day the biggest scum and criminals were the ones trying to take away all their liberties including their guns making them defenseless. They didn’t want the generations to follow be threatened by the gvmt. therefore creating the 2nd amendment. One must figure they found it quite a priority to make it the 2nd MOST IMPORTNANT RIGHT!
Narcotic death among youth in one day total more gun deaths among youth in more than a year. I think we should ban drugs, even the pretty little pink, green, yellow and colorful ones the drug companies make and spend millions telling us are great for a happy day.
I never heard the warning on a gun say “may cause suicidal thoughts” but that warning is on tons of medications doctors and shrinks try to put on todays youth everyday.
It really is too bad this kid shot himself. Parenting in the home is crucial at 14 years old. Kids must be very well cared for by caring parents to help avoid issues like this.
The ‘Kid’ wasn’t the only one who broke the law. The gun was not properly secured.
You have absolutely no idea that this is the case, but it fits your narrative , so I guess lack of facts and hyperbole are ok.
What if the gun was in a locked case, ammo in a separate place and the kid busted in and took them? What if it was in a safe, and the kid searched out the key and took it? Even if it was loaded and hidden away some where and the kid searched it out and took it,It still did not belong to him, he is the only Law breaker in these scenario’s. But these wouldn’t fit your talking points, would they?
That you know of.
What if the gun was in a safe with a combination lock on it with the ammo stored seperately and the kid used bolt cutters to open it?
But then again, we don’t know the facts, so let’s not speculate too much on it.
I didn’t see marshall’s comment below, he’s right.
This is not a gun issue. This kid obviously had some other issues. He should not have had access to a gun (but again, that is not a “gun” issue, that is a parent who was careless with firearms issue).
The variable here is not access to guns–a generation or two ago, students could get up early and hunt their way to school, then store their rifles in their lockers. It’s against the rules now, but any person with an IQ over room temperature will be able to get a firearm into a building, even past basic metal detectors. Are we asking for a TSA checkpoint at every entrance to every school? Should we install cameras in every child’s bedroom to make sure they’re not loading up the 9MM before they get on the bus, and then search them on the way in the front door? That might stop the dumber ones, but the lengths we’d have to go to in order to “catch” a gunman after they’ve committed themselves to the act would be immoral and illegal.
Suicide is the end of a long chain of events, some more obvious than others, but if we focused on prevention rather than cure, the beginning instead of the end, if some insight was provided regarding healthy ways to deal with breakups, if the impacts of suicide had been openly discussed in school, then we would have fewer of these stories while enriching the lives of the rest of the other students, rather than subjecting them to illegal and ultimately ineffective searches. Let’s have a discussion about the reality of how we are changing as a culture and as communities. It’s infinitely harder than blaming the steel&lead, and my saying so won’t endear me to anyone involved, but that’s what we need to talk about here. Access to firearms has been a reality for generations, but we all know the nature of our culture, our communities, and our schooling has been changing drastically, and not much for the better. Let’s have that discussion before we see too many more throw away what’s been given to them.
Very Nice. Very real.
Funny, 16 comments. If this had happened in Bangor there would be over 250 and the blog probably would have been closed down. I’m guilty too just saying. Any good shrink out there explain that one? Oh yea, they would have to click on the NH kid story in order to read this question…nevermind.
“How does a kid get a gun into school?” he said. “How can this happen?”
Put it in a backpack….this isn’t that hard to figure out.
I just don’t get it?
I mean, schools are gun free zones, i would think that the kid would have realized that and stopped when he saw the “no guns” sign.
All that aside,
Very tragic.