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- CLEVELAND - Authorities were
investigating 11 Cleveland high school students suspected of plotting to
gun down peers and teachers at noon Friday. A police source told a Cleveland
newspaper that the suspects "had floor plans, pictures - they were
ready ... It would have been a mass slaughter."
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- Classes at Cleveland,s South High School were canceled
Friday, as were the homecoming football game and dance. At a late night
news conference Thursday, Cleveland Mayor Michael White told parents with
children who attend the school to keep them home Friday. White later reported
that while a sweep of the school did not uncover any weapons or explosives,
police did find threatening documents.
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- He would not provide specifics but the Cleveland Plain
Dealer, quoting a source close to the investigation, reported Friday that
the documents outline a plot by students, aged 14 to 18, to use sawed-off
shotguns and explosives in a mass slaughter and suicide battle. "We
do take these documents to be very serious, White said, adding that none
of the 11 students were suspected of being gang members.
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- http://www.msnbc.com/modules/quizzes/school_warning_signs.asp Test your knowledge of signs of potentially violent students
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- "Sick of everybody"
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- The Plain Dealer source said the documents show the massacre
was planned for just before noon Friday, when some of the plotting students
would open fire in the school cafeteria. Other students were to open fire
inside the principal,s office.
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- The plan was then to conclude with with a suicidal shootout
with police in a school courtyard, the source said. "They had floor
plans, pictures " they were ready the source told the Plain Dealer.
"It would have been a mass slaughter. The students told investigators
they planned to obtain their guns from a street gang, the source added.
The only reason the students gave investigators for the plot, the source
said, was that they were "sick of everybody.
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- Daily metal detector checks - Whereas 4 percent of mostly
minority schools used this strategy, only a negligible percentage of other
schools did. And while mandatory checks were used by 5 percent of schools
where 75 percent of students are below the poverty line, the same was true
of only a negligible percentage of schools where less than half of students
were below the poverty line."
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- Random metal detector checks - Nine percent of high schools,
7 percent of middle schools and 1 percent of elementary schools used random
metal detection. By enrollment, 15 percent of schools with 1,000 or more
students used random checks. By locale, 8 percent of city schools did,
compared with just 2 percent of rural schools. By region, 9 percent of
southeast schools used it, followed by 4 percent of schools in western
states, and just 1 percent in the northeast and central states.
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- By minority enrollment, 9 percent of mostly minority
schools used random checks, compared with 6 percent of those with 20 percent
to 49 percent minorities; 1 percent of those with 5 percent to 19 percent
and a negligible percent of schools with less than 5 percent minorities.
A similar pattern emerged in looking at schools by poverty level.
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- Drug sweeps - Forty-five percent of high schools, 36
percent of middle schools and 5 percent of elementary schools used drug
sweeps. Rural schools used it more often, 27 percent, compared with just
12 percent of city schools.
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- Controlled access to grounds - Forty-nine percent of
schools with 1,000 or more students used this, compared with just 16 percent
of schools with less than 300 students. Of schools with mostly minority
enrollment, 38 percent used it, whereas only 14 percent of schools with
less than 5 percent minority enrollment did. A similar gap existed between
schools with mostly poor students and less than 20 percent poor students.
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- Controlled access to buildings - Seventy percent of northeast
schools used this, compared with 52 percent or less in other regions. Sixty-three
percent of schools with half or more minority enrollment used it, whereas
only 42 percent of schools with less than 5 percent minority enrollment
did.
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- Closed campus during lunch - 93 percent of middle schools
used this strategy, compared with about 77 percent of elementary and high
schools.
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- Visitors must sign in - 100 percent of city schools required
sign-ins; rural schools had the lowest percentage by locale, at 92. Source:
U.S. Dept. of Education, 1998 figures
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- DRESSED IN BLACK
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- School security and police learned of the alleged plans
from a student who heard rumors of the attack, and told her parents who
in turn informed the school Wednesday. School security guards detained
the 11 teens when they showed up at school Thursday all dressed in black.
None has been identified or charged, and all were sent home with their
parents while police continue the investigation.
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- SECURITY TIGHTENED
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- White said security at other schools and at all Cleveland
high school football games this weekend would be tightened. Moreover,
South High,s 1,500 students on Monday will be scanned with hand-held metal
detectors before entering the school. And psychologists will be at all
middle and high schools next week to talk to students about the incident,
which bears some similarities to the massacre by two students at Columbine
High School in Littleton, Colo., last April.
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- NBC correspondent Jim Avila contributed to this story.
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- _____________
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- Planned Student Massacre At Cleveland HS Said Thwarted
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- http://www.cleveland.com/news/pdnews/metro/c29souu.ssf
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- By Christopher Quinn Plain Dealer Reporter 10-29-99
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- An apparent plan by 11 South High School students to
"commit violent crimes" there today was thwarted by school security
workers, Mayor Michael R. White announced last night.
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- White said no weapons were found in a search of the school,
but officials seized documents indicating the threat of violence was serious
enough to warrant a full investigation.
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- "We have every reason to treat this as a serious
threat and not a teenage prank," a City Hall source said.
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- A girl who learned of the plot - to shoot teachers, administrators
and fellow students and provoke a suicidal showdown with police, alerted
her parents to it Wednesday morning. One of the parents notified the school,
said a source close to the investigation.
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- Little was done, however, until yesterday morning, when
the 11 students, all dressed in black, arrived at the school as if "on
a mission," catching the attention of school security workers, the
source said.
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- "They were casing the place," the source said.
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- Security workers interviewed the 11 youths yesterday
before sending them home with parents. Police were searching the school
locker by locker last night, and the source said searches of the students'
homes were to take place as well.
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- "We are not suggesting for a moment that we have
a full understanding of what's occurred," White said. "This is
literally a matter that is unfolding minute to minute, hour to hour."
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- Investigators began interviewing students to unravel
the plot and quickly identified the 11 students said to be involved, all
white and ranging in age from 14 to 18. A search of the students turned
up no drugs. White said school records revealed none of the students to
be gang members.
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- White said the 11 students were barred from the school
pending the investigation. They could be disciplined by the school, and
police are determining whether any crimes occurred.
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- The source close to the investigation said the students
claimed in written statements given to investigators that they planned
to use firearms, including sawed-off shotguns and homemade explosives to
kill teachers, administrators and fellow students.
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- According to the statements, the massacre was planned
for just before noon, when some of the plotting students would go to school
cafeterias to open fire. Other students were to start shooting in the principal's
office.
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- The students planned to conclude the massacre with a
suicidal shootout with police in a school courtyard, the source said.
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- "They had floor plans, pictures - they were ready,"
the source said. "It would have been a mass slaughter."
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- The students told investigators they planned to obtain
their guns from a street gang that has been active in gunplay on the East
Side in the last two weeks, the source said. Whether the students had obtained
any weapons was not clear last night.
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- The only reason the students gave investigators for the
plot was that they were "sick of everybody," including administrators
and fellow students.
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- White declined to comment on specifics of the students'
plan and urged the community to consider the ages of the plotters as details
of the plan become available over the next few days.
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- "Let's keep in mind, these are children," he
said.
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- White and school officials have ordered extra security
for every school in the city.
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- South High School is closed today. Its homecoming football
game this afternoon and homecoming dance scheduled for tonight are canceled.
When students return to the school Monday morning, they will be scanned
with hand-held metal detectors before they may enter, White said.
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- Security at all other schools is being increased, and
White said city police would treat any incident at a school, no matter
how minor, as a top priority. Police will patrol near schools frequently.
The mayor ordered the same policy after last April's massacre in Littleton,
Colo.
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- White is increasing security at all high school football
games in the city this weekend. Psychologists will be at all middle and
high schools next week to talk to students and reduce tensions.
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- White asked that parents of South High School students
provide suitable activities for their children today and keep them away
from the school.
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- Plain Dealer reporter Scott Stephens contributed to this
article.
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- E-mail: cquinn@plaind.com Phone: (216) 999-4604
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- 1999 THE PLAIN DEALER. Used with permission.
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- 1999 Cleveland Live. All rights reserved.
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- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters19991029_2242.html
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- WIRE:10/29/1999 11:59:00 ET Cleveland Shuts School On
Shooting Fears
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- CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Cleveland Mayor Michael White closed
a high school Friday because of fears that pupils were about to stage a
Columbine-style massacre, police said.
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- White would only say that a plan by 11 students "to
commit violent crimes" was discovered but a local paper said a group
of students had planned to use guns and bombs to kill students and teachers
before a suicidal confrontation with police.
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- A bloody rampage in April at Columbine high school which
claimed 15 lives caused public outcry and government concern in the United
States.
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- "The incident is still being investigated by the
Cleveland Police and the Board of Education," Cleveland Police spokesman
Lt. Edward Thiery told Reuters. "So far, we have not found any firearms
or explosives," he added.
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- White said: "We are not suggesting for a moment
that we have a full understanding of what's occurred. This is literally
a matter that is unfolding minute to minute, hour to hour."
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- The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper reported that security
workers at South High School uncovered the plot Thursday when 11 students,
all dressed in black, arrived at the school as if "on a mission".
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- Quoting a source close to city hall, the paper said a
girl had learned of the plot to shoot teachers, administrators and fellow
students and provoke a suicidal showdown with police. It said she alerted
her parents and that one of her parents notified the school.
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- Officials at South High were unavailable for comment
and neither the girl nor her parents were identified.
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- The Plain Dealer said that the 11 students dressed in
black were sent home by security workers. Thiery said he believed the students
were now in the custody of their parents.
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- The Plain Dealer said the students were white and between
14 and 18 years of age.
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- It quoted a source close to the inquiry as saying the
students claimed in statements given to investigators that they planned
to use firearms, including sawed-off shotguns, and homemade explosives
to kill teachers, administrators and fellow students.
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- The massacre was planned for just before noon, when some
of the plotting students would go to school cafeterias to open fire, the
report said. Other students were to start shooting in the principal's office.
The students planned to conclude with a suicidal shootout with police in
a school courtyard, it added.
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- "They had floor plans, pictures -- they were ready,"
the paper quoted the source as saying. "It would have been a mass
slaughter," it said.
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- It said the students' reason for the plot was that they
were "sick of everybody" and that they planned to buy the guns
from a street gang in the neighborhood.
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- Students were expected to return to classes Monday and
would be scanned with hand-held metal detectors before they may enter.
Security at other schools also was being intensified.
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- Copyright 1999 ABC News Internet Ventures.
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