Harrisburg, SD (KELO AM) - School will be back in session Thursday in Harrisburg following a shooting on Wednesday that left High School Principal Kevin Lein with a flesh wound in his arm and a 16 year old student behind bars awaiting charges.
School Superintendent Jim Holbeck told KELO Radio News on Wednesday that Lein was mantling a positive outlook “within minutes (of the shooting) I was over there, he was in good spirts then. He called me two different times, and both times he was really in very good spirts. But we’re concerned about him both physically and his mental health on how this thing will play out with him.” Lein even refused to be taken from the school on a stretcher. Instead he opted to walk onto the ambulance after telling the staff and students of the school what happened via the intercom.
Wednesday’s incident was limited to one victim, thanks to the efforts of Vice Principal Joey Struwe and Athletic Director Ryan Rollinger who tackled the gunman and held him in place before he could be turned over to police. Both men are being called heroes by members of the Harrisburg community, including Holbeck. “It was at the moment’s notice that they reacted, they made a choice, and I think they made a good choice, they were heroes in the fact that when they got this kid subdued we weren’t going to have any more shooting.”
A silver lining in the situation shone through when the staff’s hours of emergency training lead to a smooth evacuation of the school building. Holbeck said the students were first placed in lockdown in their classrooms following the shot, then when police had given authorities the all clear that no other danger was present students were escorted on to busses and taken to the Harrisburg South Middle School to be picked up by parents. He said the plan is designed to “make sure all kids are safe and secure, we also have to make sure we aren’t just letting everybody take off out the door and not be accounted for.” The schools electronic alert system was also put into action, notifying parents of the situation via phone calls and e-mail alerts. Similar alerts were also issued by Sioux Falls schools.
The student in question has not yet been identified, however KSFY TV has reported that his father reached out to the Associated Press this evening to confirm his 16 year old son was the one arrested, saying that his son had been withdrawn for the last year or so and was “mad at the world.”
Holbeck summed up his feelings from the day by saying Wednesday’s events leave parents and students everywhere with something to think about, saying "I have this philosophy that, I don't think that schools could never fortify themselves enough, or lock the kids in enough, to make sure that at every moment someone won't make a bad decision. We don't know if they will make that bad decision out in the parking lot, in the street, in the mall, at a movie theater - there's no guarantees of one hundred percent safety. So the best thing we can do is try to make sure we get to kids. I hope that parents take their kids tonight and talk to them about conflict resolution. There's a lot of ways to deal with things without thinking that you have to solve it by shooting somebody."
Harrisburg will hold classes Thursday at all of its schools. Councilors will be available if students have any remaining anxiety over the situation or still need someone to talk to.