Police: School gunman upset over GI treatment

updated 6:59 p.m. ET Nov. 10, 2009

PINE PLAINS, N.Y. - Police say a carpenter who brought a shotgun to an upstate New York middle school and held a principal hostage for more than two hours was upset by the treatment of U.S. soldiers.

The court complaint against Christopher Craft Sr. says he threatened to use deadly force to try to get school officials and police to contact the media with his message concerning "the wrongful treatment" of military personnel.

Several people who gathered at Stissing Mountain Middle School, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of New York City, say Craft's elder son had enlisted in the Army. That information could not immediately be confirmed Tuesday evening.

Craft, 42, sneaked a disassembled shotgun into the school, put it together in a bathroom then confronted Principal Robert Hess in the main office.

He was later arraigned on a first-degree kidnapping charge. Dutchess County Sheriff Adrian Anderson said he will also face charges of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal trespassing.

Craft was dressed in a black T-shirt with an image of a pirate ship on the back, black jeans and sneakers at his arraignment before Pine Plains Town Justice Louis Imperato.

He responded with terse 'Yes, sirs' except when the judge ordered him to jail without bail.

"Jail is not the place I need to be," Craft said. He told Imperato he should be in a psychiatric facility getting treatment for depression. The judge didn't respond to that request.

No plea
Craft didn't enter a plea at his arraignment. A public defender will be assigned before his next court appearance Dec. 2.

Craft walked into the main office at Stissing Mountain Middle School and held Principal Bob Hess hostage while students and staff were locked down in other parts of the building, Anderson said. No one was injured.

Craft, who went to school in the district, didn't specifically threaten anyone at the school, Anderson said. Police would not discuss a possible motive. Craft has two sons who had attended the school, but school officials said neither was currently enrolled.

Seventh-grader Zach Pruner said he was in the counselor's office in the next room when the man walked in and began arguing with administrators. He began cursing and talked about being frustrated and confused, Zach said.

'Frozen with fear'
"I could hear him in the next room," he said. "I was frozen with fear."

Zach said he hid under a desk for the next two hours. He jumped out a window after getting the attention of the SWAT team by waving his arm, and he held up a sign that said, "One guy with gun and four people inside," he said.

When Zach's mother, Susan Treacy, was asked Tuesday if she had learned something about her son, she said: "Yeah, he's better at this than he is at schoolwork."

Suzanne Mata said her 17-year-old daughter was in the cafeteria when school workers started getting text messages telling them to get the students into the kitchen.

Classes began around 7:30 a.m. and Craft walked in a few minutes later, checking in with a receptionist as required, according to Pine Plains Schools Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer. He asked to use the bathroom, where he put the shotgun back together, loaded it with one round and headed into the main office, police said.

Students evacuated
Police went room to room after Craft surrendered, evacuating about 700 students from the combined middle and high schools as they went. The students were taken to a bus garage, then returned to school by mid-afternoon. They were allowed to go home around 2:20 p.m., right around the time the school day normally ends. Some were met by parents; others walked down the main street away from school.

Hess was the psychologist at the school before becoming principal, said Gregg Pulver, superintendent of Pine Plains, a town about 90 miles north of New York City.

"He has a great way of handling people, thank God," he said.

The school was schedule to be closed Wednesday to observe Veterans Day, but Kaumeyer said she would consider opening it to provide counseling.

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