Police say teenage boy held hostages at school

PHILIPPI, W.Va. -- The latest in the arrest of a suspect after a report of a gun at a West Virginia high school (all times local):

5:20 p.m.:

West Virginia State Police say a 14-year-old boy held several students and a teacher hostage in a high school classroom before he let them go and eventually was taken into custody. No injuries were reported.

State Police Lt. Michael Baylous says in a news release that the boy had a pistol in a second-floor classroom Tuesday at Philip Barbour High School.

Baylous says after local authorities received a call about the matter at 1:30 p.m., the school was placed on lockdown, and students elsewhere in the school were moved to the school's football field, accounted for and sent home by school bus.

Baylous says that after initial negotiations, the suspect agreed to release the students and teacher and then eventually put the gun down and surrendered without further incident.

Baylous says the suspect has been taken to a hospital for evaluation.

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4:25 p.m.:

Steve Saltis was among several parents outside an area cordoned off by police tape at West Virginia's Philip Barbour High School waiting for students to be released.

Saltis told The Associated Press by telephone that his daughter attends the school. Passing minutes seemed like hours before authorities let the students head home. Saltis said "a lot" was going through his mind in the meantime.

West Virginia State Police have said a suspect has been arrested after a report of someone with a gun inside the high school. No injuries were reported.

Saltis said many students had been sitting in the school's football stadium after the school was evacuated, and he was able to talk to his daughter. But Saltis says law enforcement officials told him nothing while the suspect was still in the school.

Asked why students weren't immediately released to their parents, Saltis said he could only speculate: "She's in their protection. That's the way it works."

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3:55 p.m.:

West Virginia State Police say a suspect has been arrested after a report of someone with a gun inside a high school. No injuries were reported.

State Police spokesman Lt. Michael Baylous says the suspect was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon at Philip Barbour High School.

Baylous says the incident began as a "hostage-type situation" at the school.

Baylous says the suspect was isolated inside the school. After the incident was reported, the school was evacuated, and students were eventually removed from the school grounds by bus, he says.

Baylous says he didn't immediately have more details on the suspect or what had happened.

Philippi is a town of about 3,000 residents in north-central West Virginia.