Samuel Hengel

Samuel Hengel was a 15-year-old student at Marinette High School in Marinette, Wisconsin. On November 29, 2010, he took multiple classmates and a teacher hostage for five hours. Although described as a good student with no previous law enforcement contact, Hengel took his own life via gunshot wound. He was initially taken to Bay Area Medical Center in Marinette, and then was transferred to St. Vincent Medical Center in Green Bay, where he was later pronounced dead at approximately 10:44am on November 30th 2010. He was described as a good, well-liked 4.0 student who had never been bullied.
Marinette police interviewed the boy's parents and survivors; many classmates expressed surprise when interviewed by reporters. Those held hostage said that they had joked and talked with him - producing some lighter moments - about hunting and fishing, which were some of Samuel's hobbies.
They and social studies teacher Valerie Burd were credited with keeping Samuel and everyone else relatively calm, which likely helped keep the situation from deteriorating to a far worse point where people could have been hurt or killed.
Police said that a few shots were fired at equipment when the crisis began (it had actually begun sometime earlier than 3:45 PM, when the first 911 call was placed). Police stated he had likely gone out to get the guns from a locker or bathroom on a break, rather than bringing them along. At one point early in the crisis, the principal briefly came to the room but called 911 after being turned away at gunpoint by Samuel, who told him to leave.
The students being held captive said they did not feel they were in danger despite the earlier shots. Ultimately, police inside were forced to break down the door and storm the room when they heard three shots which did not hit anybody. Before police could intervene, Samuel pointed the gun at himself (he did not threaten the officers) and fatally shot himself.

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