Nov 10, 2009 1:06 pm US/Eastern
NY School Hostage Suspect Surrenders
Stissing Mountain High School In Pine Plains Locked Down During Confrontation
42-Year-Old Christopher Craft Holds Principal Bob Hess Hostage
No Shots Fired; Suspect Taken Away By Police Just After 10 A.M.
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Mug shot of Christopher Craft, accused of taking Stissing Mountain High School Principal Bob Hess hostage on Nov. 10, 2009.
CBS
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A gunman is holding a principal hostage at a school in Pine Plains, New York. Chopper 2 HD was live over the scene on Tuesday morning, November 9, 2009.
CBS
A former student held a school administrator hostage for more than an hour Tuesday morning, then surrendered to police without firing a shot.
CBS 2 HD learned the man in custody is Christopher David Craft of Pine Plains and the hostage was Stissing Mountain Middle School Principal Bob Hess.
Pine Plains Town Supervisor Gregg Pulver said the 42-year-old gunman was a former student at the school.
Police were in contact with the suspect throughout the standoff, he said.
Police had the suspect confined to one room and all the students were kept safe throughout the dramatic incident.
Chopper 2 HD was over the scene as one student jumped out of a window and crawled to safety, while other students were led out of the school to a garage.
As SWAT teams assembled, one unit entered the school by kicking down a door.
It was a frightening two hours for the 500 or so students and their families, after Craft entered the school with a rifle and took principal Hess hostage.
"Evidently, there is some speculation that he (the gunman) had a loved one in the military and somehow this is some contrived scheme on his part to do something about that," said Pulver.
Parents stood back and prayed for the best as several law enforcement agencies engaged in the standoff.
"I am completely relieved, thank God that they're okay," said parent Hope LaPonte.
Pulver, who spoke with CBS 2's Kate Sullivan and Maurice DuBois as events unfolded, urged parents to go to the Stissing House parking lot.
Hundreds of parents gathered at the lot, a few blocks from the school, anxious for word of when they could reunite with their children.
"It's been stressful. Thank God I heard everyone's okay," added parent Anthony Stoddard.
Margaret Hart, who lives across the street from the school, said police cars were in the neighborhood and helicopters were flying overhead. She says the area around the school has a lot of woods and "a lot of places to hide."
Who Is Christopher David Craft?
The suspect is of Red Hook, in upstate New York. Police say he is a former student of Stissing Mountain and was known to police prior to this incident due to other incidents, although there's nothing to believe any of those events were of this serious a nature.
Witnesses say Craft, who reportedly has a son in the military, entered the school with either a shotgun or rifle, allegedly yelling about the war. A former Dutchess County investigator told CBS 2 police on the scene told him Craft was upset about the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There are reports Craft has children currently attending the middle school.
Craft attended Stissing Mountain School in the 1980's.
Resident Charlie Bombard said Craft was "always in trouble," and someone who was seemingly "unstable."
CBS 2's Tony Aiello contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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