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Thursday, March 26, 1998 Published at 15:04 GMT



Special Report

Eyewitnesses describe horror of shooting
image: [ Jeremy White, who survived the Jonesboro school massacre by running into the gym ]
Jeremy White, who survived the Jonesboro school massacre by running into the gym

Children at the Arkansas school have spoken of the terror they felt when two of their classmates opened fire on them after setting off a hoax fire alarm.


Click here to see an eyewitness account in Real Video
Jeremy White, who survived the attack at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro unscathed, said the shooting did not feel real.

He said: "I heard gunshots and I looked up and saw a teacher go down, and kids gathered around and they started running and fell down.

"Most of them made it, but some didn't."

He said the school's principal shouted at his pupils to get into the gym as the shots were fired from the woods.

"We were all scared because we thought that whoever was shooting would come inside," he said.

Other students revealed how Shannon Wright, the pregnant teacher who was killed, had tried to shield her charges from the gunfire.

Amber Vanoven, 11, said: "This guy was aiming at a girl called Emma.

"He was fixing to shoot her and Mrs Wright moved out in front of her. She got shot. She did. I sat and watched her."

"I saw my best friend, Natalie Brooks, get killed - shot in the head twice," said Miss Vanoven.

Erica Swindle, 12, said: "After we started running, they started shooting faster, just so they could shoot people.

"When we came outside, there were these loud pops and we thought it was just like some prank, you know, like people popping some firecrackers or something.

"After the teacher started screaming to us to run, I saw a body on the ground."

"It scares me, thinking my own classmate can actually kill somebody like that," she said.
 





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1998 Contents
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