SWAT Officers Kill Campus Hostage-Taker

A 26-year-old man with a history of mental illness was killed by police after a hostage standoff in September at Dyersburg State Community College in northwest Tennessee.

Harold Kilpatrick Jr., who family members said had previously been treated for bipolar disorder, charged into a second-floor classroom at the community college armed with a gun and knife and took the teacher of a pre-algebra class and 13 students hostage.

Contracting Kilpatrick using cell phones of student hostages, SWAT officers attempted to negotiate a peaceful surrender for about nine hours before storming the classroom and fatally wounding him. Two hostages were wounded during the incident.

Two other shootings took place at college campuses in September, including: