A high school sophomore who held nine classmates hostage at gunpoint for five hours surrendered and was taken to a psychiatric hospital. No one was injured during the ordeal.
"I just wanted to leave the country," a smiling Randy Floyd Addis, 17, said as authorities led him away Thursday from the South Forsyth high school and middle school.Addis had demanded $3,000 before becoming dizzy and giving up the siege. He was taken to Central State Hospital in Milledgeville for evaluation.
Sheriff Wesley Walraven of Forsyth County said Addis was charged as an adult with kidnapping and weapons violations. Addis has a juvenile arrest record and suffers from epilepsy, among other health problems, he said.
Addis entered the school about 40 miles north of Atlanta with a 30.06 semiautomatic deer rifle, a single-shot 12-gauge shotgun, a .25 caliber automatic pistol and black powder concealed in a duffel bag as a science project.
Walraven said Addis fired the rifle over the heads of students in a civics class shortly before 8:30 a.m. A teacher wrestled the rifle away, but Addis pulled a pistol and held about 40 students at gunpoint.
Addis released all but nine hostages at intervals. Most of the school's 1,200 students were evacuated and released to parents, who flocked to the campus as word of the incident spread.
About 1:45 p.m., Addis became dizzy and officers moved in to take his weapons.
Some hostages were freed in exchange for candy and soda, said Joyce Shadburn, a spokeswoman for the county's school superintendent. The only other demand was for a school bus, she said, adding that a bus had been taken to the scene.
Seventh-grader Shawn Abercrombie, whose older brother was among the final hostages, described Addis as "a quiet guy. He has problems and has seizures and takes pills for them."
The youth had a seizure last week, Abercrombie said, and another student made fun of him.