Gunfires And Suicide At Florida School Board

Violence hits once more the educational system in the United States. A 56-year-olf man took hostage the school board of a Florida district, complaining about the high taxes and his wife being fired. He afterwards tried to shoot the superintendent, before being taken down by a security guard. Eventually the gunman killed himself.

The school board for the district including the beach tourism and Air Force town of Panama City met for a routine discussion. Their meeting was interrupted by a man dressed in a dark pullover coat; Clay A. Duke entered the room and painted a red ”V” with a circle around it on one of the walls. Then he pulled out a gun and ordered everyone, except the members of the board, to leave the room. Or, in his own words, to ”hit the road”.

Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt tried to talk to the gunman and asked him to drop the gun, but Duke refused. The man then began to accuse the officials that they intend to raise the taxes and blaimed them for his wife having been fired. He only said that the woman used to work in the northern Florida district, but it was not clear who she was or what was she really working.

A tense moment took place after the gunman ordered the only woman of the board to leave the room; the woman complied, but later on she sneaked back in the room and began to hit Duke with her purse. The man threw her down and threatened her with the gun, but, fortunately, did not shoot her. The woman later explained that, in her mind, hitting the gunman was the only way to divert him, but not even herself could explain why the man spared her life.

Later on Duke turned his gun towards Bill Husfelt and shot twice in his direction from around eight feet away. It was the moment when one of the security guards, Mike Jones, stormed in the room and exchanged several rounds with Duke, before hitting him in the leg or side. Afterwards the man shot and killed himself. Miraculously, no one was injured during the fire exchange; not even Bill Husfelt, two rounds aimed for him hitting the wall behind him.

So far no one knows for sure what motivated Duke to take the school board hostage. Besides speaking about high taxes and his wife having been fired, the man also created a Facebook page last week, speaking of class warfare and posting images from a popular movie about a mysterious hero fighting a totalitarian government. And the V painted on the wall represents the symbol of the hero.

Clay A. Duke was not at his first confrontation with the law. The man was charged eleven years ago with several crimes, among which aggravated stalking, shooting or throwing a missile into a building or vehicle and obstructing justice. According to the lawyer who represented him back then, Duke waited for his wife with a gun, and shit her car when the woman tried to leave. He was sentenced to five years in prison, being released in 2004.