A man who spray-painted a wall and then opened fire on the superintendent and school board members during a meeting in Panama City, Florida, killed himself after being wounded by an officer, authorities said today Tuesday..
The gunman apparently missed each person he fired on, even though he was at close range, said Lee Stafford, director of student services of Bay District Schools.
The chief of security for the school board shot and wounded the man, who then fatally shot himself, said Ruth Corley, a spokeswoman for the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
The harrowing incident was captured by a live internal feed of the afternoon school board meeting.
“We do know who he is, but cannot speak to any possible motive,” Corley said. “The detectives are still conducting interviews with witnesses.”
The man, who had a handgun. ordered people out of the room before confronting the board members who remained, Stafford told CNN.
“He started making some demands of the superintendent,” Stafford said, adding that the man then spay-painted a red circle with a “V” on a wall in the building. “We don’t know if that symbol has any meaning,” Stafford said.
According to Stafford, the man “rambled quite a bit. And he talked about a family member that had been fired with the school board, and then began talking about the half-cent sales tax, jumping from one topic to another. He did make the comment several times that he was going to die today.”
The man waved the gun and would not respond to those pleading with him to calm down, officials said.
The gunman fired at the superintendent and “then he very deliberately pointed the gun at other board members,” Stafford said, adding that the man fired live rounds, not blanks as some had called the shots. School board members hit the ground.
No one was was injured. It was not clear how many rounds were fired. (CNN)
