Elementary school Shooting No Children Involved

[Hellsbells]

(CNN) -- A staff member at an elementary school in Knoxville, Tennessee, was taken into custody Wednesday minutes after the principal and assistant principal were shot and wounded while in the school, police said.

"We're happy that he's in custody and we're confident that he was the only one involved," Police Chief Sterling Owen told reporters.

Police were called at 12:49 p.m. and "at 1:03 we had him in custody," said Owen, who would not identify the suspect until he is charged.

The victims, principal Elise Luna and assistant principal Amy Brace, were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. "One is in surgery, and the other has been treated," Owen said. "We feel like, at this point in time, both of them have a good chance of surviving."

The suspect drove away after the shooting but got caught in a roadblock for a construction project, Owen said. "He apparently surrendered at that time," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/10/...ngs/index.html

[Ninja0980]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100211/...chool_shooting

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – An elementary school teacher is accused of shooting and wounding the principal and assistant principal at his school Wednesday about an hour after the children were dismissed because of snow.

Police charged Mark Stephen Foster, 48, of Clinton, with two counts of attempted first-degree murder after the shooting at Inskip Elementary School. The school Web site identifies Foster as a fourth-grade teacher.

A former boss of Foster's said the suspect was taken into custody in the 1990s with weapons near their office after making threatening comments about him to family members.

University of Tennessee Medical Center officials said Principal Elisa Luna remained in critical condition and Assistant Principal Amy Brace in stable condition Wednesday night.

"We're very saddened by this tragedy," Knox County Schools Superintendent James McIntyre Jr. said. "Thankfully there were no students involved." The children had left school early because of snow.

The Web profile for Foster includes a picture and description that says, "I love teaching 4th grade. Every child is a winner."

Tennessee Department of Education spokeswoman Rachel Woods said Foster received an apprentice teacher license for grades K-6 in the summer of 2007. An apprentice license is issued when someone first starts teaching, before they have tenure, she said.

Police haven't released a motive for the shooting. McIntyre said the school didn't intend to rehire Foster next term.

The suspect's brother, Anthony Foster, said his brother lives about a mile away but the two haven't talked in four years because of "family problems." Anthony Foster declined to describe why he and his brother were estranged. But the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Anthony Foster tried to get a protective order against his brother last year, writing in the petition that Mark Foster had threatened his family.

A court dismissed the petition in May.

"I am very afraid of what he might do to me or my family. He suffers from mental illness and has been treated for it for several year," the petition says. "I have had to call the sheriff's department several times in the past and he seems to be getting worse."

Looking at this guy's background, how the heck was he ever hired as a teacher?!

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Two relatives called Mark Stephen Foster a "ticking time bomb." His mother allegedly didn't want him at her funeral.

When he walked out of the Inskip Elementary School principal's office Wednesday knowing he wouldn't have a job, police say he walked back in with a revolver and opened fire.

Knox County Schools officials received complaints about Foster months before the shooting at the school that wounded the principal and assistant principal, but investigators turned up no hard evidence that would have justified firing him, Superintendent Jim McIntyre said.
[...]

Luna initially considered calling in security for Wednesday's meeting, when she and Brace told Foster the school system wouldn't renew his teaching contract. She changed her mind, McIntyre said. Minutes later, she and Brace lay wounded.

Foster "lured" the women into Luna's office just before 12:50 p.m., then shot each repeatedly with the revolver, according to court records.
[...]

An anonymous tipster e-mailed school officials Nov. 16, claiming to be a relative of Foster's and calling him a violent man with a history of mental illness who'd been banned from the Waffle House in Clinton and his mother's funeral.

"He is very unpredictable and is a very dangerous person just waiting to go off," the tipster wrote. "I have personally seen him in action, and it's not a pretty sight."
[...]

The superintendent wouldn't say why the school system didn't renew Foster's contract but hinted the complaints and other problems helped shape that decision.

Foster had received a good evaluation for the 2008-2009 school year, his first year at Inskip. But six days before the shooting, administrators met with Foster about student complaints that he yelled at them and told them to shut up, records show. Four students asked to move to another class because Foster "is mean."

Foster told officials he'd "been under pressure recently." Luna told him not to take it out on the kids, and he promised to work on that.

A parent had complained in December that Foster grabbed his son's shoulder and tugged on him. Foster denied that claim.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/fe...d-a-time-bomb/

Luna is in critical condition and Brace in stable condition.

[Hellsbells]

Ex-teacher gets 56 years for Tenn. school shooting

A judge has sentenced a former teacher to 56 years in prison for shooting two administrators in an elementary school office in Knoxville.

Mark Stephen Foster pleaded guilty to the February 2010 shootings that wounded principal Elisa Luna and assistant principal Amy Brace at Inskip Elementary School. Foster had been told his contract as a fourth-grade teacher would not be renewed.

He will be eligible for parole after serving 30 percent of the sentence

http://www.wdtimes.com/news/national...5661d9024.html