http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=217155&category=&BCCode=&newsdate=2/9/2004
Story in Albany NY paper re: the shooting.
Teacher shot by student at Columbia High School
Special-education teacher Michael Bennett treated and released from hospital; student taken into custody
Staff and wire reports
Last updated: 12:40 p.m., Monday, February 9, 2004
EAST GREENBUSH -- Special-education teacher Michael Bennett was shot today at Columbia High School in East Greenbush, State Police said.
Two men were taken into police custody. One of them was in handcuffs, and he was identified by East Greenbush Superintendent Terrance Brewer as student Jon Romano. Brewer would not say if the other person in custody is a student.
The shooting happened before 11 a.m. in a hallway at the school in Rensselaer County. Brewer said three rounds from a 12-gauge shotgun were fired. One shot, Brewer said, hit special-education teacher Michael Bennett. Brewer said assistant principal John Sawchuk then stopped the student and held him until police came.
The school was placed in lockdown. Students, who were being kept in their classrooms, are being transported to Goff Middle School on Gilligan Road in East Greenbush. Brewer said that no students had been injured in the incident.
Bennett, a popular coach, graduate of the school and the married father of two, was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital. He was treated and released early this afternoon.
''He's a great guy,'' said Shay Harrison, who has worked as assistant coach of the girls varsity basketball team, which Bennett coaches. ''He's got a wife, two kids, had a little girl three months ago.''
Bennett also coaches junior varsity football and freshmen baseball. He graduated from Columbia High School in 1985.
''We're both graduates of Columbia. He was five years ahead of me,'' Harrison said. ''He was always a good guy.''
''It was the scariest thing ever,'' Emily Molineaux, a senior at the high school told Capital News 9, which had a reporter on the scene covering an unrelated story when the shooting occurred. ''We had no clue exactly what was happening.''
Molineaux said a teacher came running into her room and told the class to say put.
''He was saying 'This is not a drill,''' Molineaux said, adding that people were screaming to lock the doors inside the school.
Shortly before noon, school buses drove up to the high school to pick up students, and the first few busloads of students have arrived at Goff Middle School. Parents who arrive at the high school are being directed there.
A news briefing was scheduled for noon at Goff Middle School.
Standing outside the school this morning, Felicia Farran said her daughter, Kristin, a 10th-grade student, called her from a cell phone.
Farran's husband, Bill, said, ''When you hear about a shooting, you think about Columbine.'' He said all schools should be equipped with metal detectors. ''With everything that's going on in the world, you need them.'' East Greenbush Town Supervisor Robert Angelini said he knows Bennett, who played basketball with his son Gerry in high school. Angelini's daughter, Tracy Farrell, also teaches at Columbia High.
He described Bennett as a mild-mannered, gentle man.
``He wouldn't curse if you slammed his toe,'' he said. ``He is a very softspoken individual.''
Angelini was awaiting a briefing by police, but it appeared the town's plan for emergencies worked.
``From all indications, it appeared everything went into place right away,'' he said. ``Police shut down the school. They had everything under control.''
