Shooting Standoff Ends at Univ. in Ohio
By M.R. KROPKO
CLEVELAND (AP) - A camouflage-clad gunman fired hundreds of rounds as he roamed the halls of a university business school, killing at least one person and wounding at least one other. About 70 people were trapped during the seven-hour standoff before police arrested the suspect.
The man, who is not a student, suffered two gunshot wounds but was able to walk and get on a medical gurney, Police Chief Edward Lohn said. He said the man was wearing a bulletproof vest, a wig and ``a kind of World War II Army helmet.''
The man, carryingquo two firearms, walked the halls of Case Western Reserve University's Peter B. Lewis Building on Friday afternoon and started firing immediately, witnesses said.
Those trapped inside hid in offices, classrooms and closets; some were able to escape throughout the ordeal.
``We saw the shadowy figure walk by the door,'' said Gregory Stoup, 38, an economic research director at the university, who along with four other people had barricaded his office's smoked-glass door with furniture.
``He was shooting down at the ground, yelling inaudible cries, sort of a high-pitched scream. We could hear the shell casings clinking on the ground,'' Stoup said.
Lohn would not say how many people were injured, saying family members had not been notified. Hospital officials said one person was killed and another was wounded. A woman who is six months pregnant was taken to a hospital for observation.
The building's distinctive design, with hallways that dip and swerve, complicated the job for police.
``As the SWAT team entered the building, they were constantly under fire,'' Lohn said. ``They couldn't return fire because of the design of the building. They didn't have a clear shot.''
Lohn described the SWAT team's chase of the suspect as ``almost a cat and mouse game.''
Earlier, students and faculty members scrambled to get out of the building after seeing the gunman fire indiscriminately. Those who remained inside stayed in contact with people outside through e-mail and telephone calls.
One man lay on the ledge of a third-floor balcony and signaled police to help him get down. A woman sprinted from the building when she had the chance.
``We're all shaking and quite scared. One of the girls in our office is seven months pregnant. We're trying to keep her as calm as possible,'' Tracy Warner, 30, said from a third-floor office where she was hiding with several other people.
Sachin Goel, 26, a master's student from India, said he was talking with two friends on the first floor outside the cafeteria when the gunman approached and shot one of his friends. ``My friend said he would give me a ride home and then I heard him shouting. I heard gunshots,'' he said.
His friend screamed as he was shot. Goel and his other friend dove under a table and the gunman fired at them.
``But he couldn't get us. And then he again shot at us and we turned the table and put it in front of us,'' Goel said.
Carolyn Solis, who works in the admissions office for the university master's degree program, said she went into the building's atrium after hearing what she thought were firecrackers and seeing students running.
``The gunman was there pointing at me and two other students,'' she said. He fired and missed, she said.
Solis and five other people barricaded themselves in her office by putting a five-drawer file cabinet in front of the glass doors.
Albert DiFranco, 26, an assistant alumni director, said he was returning to his first-floor office from the bathroom when he saw drops of blood and broken glass on the floor outside his door.
People shouted down from a second-floor mezzanine for him to get out.
``I ran out,'' he said. ``People were saying, 'Go, go, go!' I got down to the ground.''
Bonnie Copes, an administrative assistant, said she heard several gunshots beginning around 4 p.m. Copes, 50, was locked in a department office inside the building and unable to leave. She continued to hear gunshots.
``Rounds and rounds and rounds,'' she said.
About four hours after the first shots were fired, rescuers began taking people out of the building, and they were reunited with family members waiting at a campus auditorium.
University Hospital spokeswoman Janice Guhl said a man who had been shot in the chest was dead when he arrived at the hospital.
Denise Smith, a spokeswoman at Huron Hospital, said a male was treated for a gunshot wound in the buttocks and was listed in good condition. She said a female was also treated and was in stable condition, but did not say whether she had been shot.
Officers had appealed to the man earlier Friday to call a designated police phone number. It was not clear if he had.
By early evening, two dozen SWAT officers, holding shields and wearing helmets and bulletproof vests, moved inside.
LeKisha Spencer, 28, who works in a first-floor cafeteria, said the man had a gun, book bag, camouflage shirt, military green hat and white pants.
``He was just walking, aiming his guns and firing,'' she said.
The $62 million building opened in the fall and was designed by Frank Gehry, who also created the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain.
Case Western is at University Circle, a park-like setting of cultural, medical and educational institutions on the eastern edge of downtown. There are 1,600 students in the business school and a total of 9,500 at Case.
The Lewis building is about five stories high. Instead of walls on the south side, it has a curving roof, made of 20,000 stainless-steel shingles, that seemingly tumbles to the ground.
Hmm...At least he seems to be over 18...No DOOM bashing this time!
WTF!? Okay, someone just went insane...
