Marinette High School hostage situation

MARINETTE - Marinette police offered updates Tuesday into Monday's hostage situation at the community's high school.

About two dozen students and a teacher were held hostage by a 15-year-old student for more than five hours.

Police say the gunman, sophomore Samuel Hengel, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound suffered late Monday evening during the crisis.

Little is known about Hengel’s motive.

"As far as what caused this, it seems to be a mystery," Marinette Police Chief Jeff Skorik said Tuesday. "We have not been able to identify anything that precipitated this incident."

Skorik says Hengel had two semi-automatic handguns in the classroom. Officials do not know where the guns came from.

A longtime family friend who declined to go on camera said he was "the most respectful kid you would ever meet." Others add his actions were completely shocking.

FOX 11 called the Hengel family home in Porterfield. A woman who answered says the family has no comment at this time.

Several students who knew Hengel met Tuesday at Faith Baptist Church in Peshtigo. They declined to comment but Youth Pastor Tim Harwell says they are struggling with what happened. Harwell says people are going to look for a reason why Hengel did what he did but there may have been many factors involved.

During the news conference police also updated the timeline of Monday’s hostage situation.

Police say at around 1:30 p.m. Hengel entered his sixth-period social studies class.

About two hours later, the principal said he went to check on the classroom after hearing from a concerned parent, with a child in that class.

After a brief confrontation with Hengel, the principal called Marinette police to let them know about the situation.

The standoff lasted about four more hours. Eventually, Hengel did allow five of the students to leave, because they had to use the bathroom.

Then just after 8:00 p.m. officers heard three gun shots. They entered the room and found Hengel standing in front.

Police say Hengel then shot himself. No one else was hurt.
Marinette High School was closed Tuesday, but classes will resume on Wednesday.

Marinette's Superintendent Tim Baneck says there will be grief support resources available for students and staff and anyone else who needs.

Baneck says the school and the county held a joint training last year on how to handle a situation such as this. He says the training paid dividends during the event Monday.