PINE PLAINS STISSING MOUNTAIN SCHOOL GUNMAN IN CUSTODY

PINE PLAINS — The gunman who allegedly barricaded himself in at Stissing Mountain middle school with a hostage was taken into custody, Town Supervisor Gregg Pulver said.

Multiple sources have said the man in custody is Christoper Craft, a Pine Plains resident.

Bob Hess, the middle school principal, who had been taken hostage, has been released unharmed.

At 11 a.m., at least three school buses were dispatched to the school.

At 10:15 a.m., police were working on a plan to evacuate students and reunite them with their parents, Pulver said.

The district’s Web site states the middle and high building includes grades 6 to 12. The high school enrollment is about 400 students and middle school includes about 270 students.

“The students are not all out of the school. … We have to provide the counseling to the students who need and figure out the best way to re-unit students and parents. They are working on that,” Pulver said.

Bruce Kimball, vice president of the school’s board of education, said a lockdown drill was held Nov. 5 to practice for an emergency situation.

“Everyone did the right thing and knew what to do today,“ Kimball said.

He added: “This turned out the best way it could.”

A large gathering of concerned parents, many on cell phones, gathered outside the Stissing Mountain House restaurant waiting for their children. The restaurant is located on Route 199 near the intersection of Main Street.

Gov. David Paterson, in a written statement, said:

“At this hour it appears the hostage situation at Pine Plains High School in Dutchess County has ended. I want to commend state and local police for their efforts in resolving this situation with professionalism and no injuries. We will continue to monitor the situation closely, but I speak for all New Yorkers when offering my sincere gratitude to our fine public safety officials who have once again served New York State well.”

During the peak of the hostage situation, some parents report being able to text message their students who were locked inside.

Parent Gary Cooper, 50, of Pine Plains said his 14-year-old son Justin sent him a text at 8:26 a.m. It read: “we are in lockdown there is somebody in the school with a gun there is cops everywhere its crazy.”

Justin Cooper later texted that he was OK and being held at the town highway garage to his father’s relief.

Parent Jill Smith received a text from her daughter Marsadie, age 16. Smith said she helped her daughter stay calm.

“It’s wonderful to be able to talk to her,” Jill Smith said.

At about 10 a.m., Nancy Kotzur’s two sons were at the school and she was waiting on a nearby road for word from them.

Kotzur said she heard from a distance that the gunman had been captured.

“Everyone started clapping and then we heard he was captured, now we’re waiting for the children to be released,” she said.

Kotzur said she tried reaching her children but had no luck.

“One son’s phone rang and rang. One son quickly picked up and then hung up, it sounded like he whispered something,” she said.

At about 9:30 a.m., officer John Hughes, with the Pine Plains Police Department, confirmed there was a subject with a gun. At that time, Hughes said that about 100 children had been evacuated and taken to the town’s highway garage. Only law enforcement were allowed near the school on Church St.

At 8:45 a.m., a parent of two students who were held in the school, Bob Lamont, said officials were saying that a gunman had one hostage trapped in the middle school principal’s office.

“There’s been no shooting as far as we know,” Lamont, a Pine Plains resident, said.

Lamont said the gunman is believed to be a parent of one of the students.

Meanwhile, Lamont’s two children were not answering their cell phones.

“I tried to get them and I can’t get either of them. My daughter’s phone is going right to voicemail,” he said.

Laura and Carlos Maisonet, of Clinton Corners, are parents on the scene.

Their child Brandon Maisonet, a seventh grader, was evacuated, but Brandon’s brother Justin Maisonet, a ninth grader, was still in the school.

“You hear about Columbine and everything else, then you turn around and it’s happening in your neighborhood. It scares the daylights out of you,” said Carlos Maisonet.

According to its Web site, the Pine Plains Central School District covers 140 square miles and includes the towns of Pine Plains, Stanford and parts of the towns of Ancram,
Clermont, Clinton, Gallatin, Livingston, Milan and Northeast. The majority of the residents reside in the Towns of Pine Plains and Stanford. The district serves approximately 1,174 students.

At 8:15 a.m., Sheriff’s deputy TJ Hanlon described the situation as “very fluid.” Hanlon declined to comment on the nature of the incident or confirm the gunman was arrested.

He said police had set up a perimeter around the school.

Red Hook resident Bill Moore said he watched about 14 police vehicles drive by his home this morning as of 8:30 a.m. He lives a few miles away from the high school, he said.

“We’ve been counting them as they go by because normally for an accident you might have two or three cars,” he said.

Moore said he’s seen about four New York State Trooper vehicles, one Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office vehicle and several unmarked police cars with lights flashing in the area of Route 308.