Police Fatally Shot a Parent Who Held a Teacher Hostage for Hours

Police in California have fatally shot a parent who held a teacher at his daughter’s elementary school hostage.

Luvelle Kennon, 27, whose daughter is in the first grade, forced his way past staff at the school Tuesday morning, grabbed teacher Linda Montgomery and pulled her into an empty classroom, the Los Angeles Times reports.

After a seven-hour standoff with Kennon — and following crisis negotiations in which authorities did not hear from Montgomery at all — SWAT officers stormed Castle View Elementary School in Riverside, Calif., about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

A witness told a local radio station that Kennon had punched a male teacher who tried to intervene, possibly breaking his nose. Witnesses did not report seeing him carrying any weapons, and his motive remains unclear.

Kennon died in hospital after being shot, a police source said, while Montgomery sustained only minor scrapes and abrasions.

Classes at the school have been cancelled for the remainder of the week, according to the L.A. Times.