PORTSMOUTH, Ohio, Feb. 7, 2008
Cops: Man Stabs Wife, Kills Himself
Man Who Injured Wife In Ohio Elementary School Found Dead In Home, Police Say
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This undated photo released by the Portsmouth, Ohio, Police Department shows William Michael Layne. Layne charged into his estranged wife Christi Layne's fifth-grade classroom Thursday morning, Feb. 7, 2008, then stabbed her as students watched, police said. He later was found dead in his home after apparently shooting himself during a standoff with police. (AP Photo/Portsmouth Police Dept)
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The 53-year-old teacher, Christi Layne, underwent surgery and "should be fine," her lawyer told The Columbus Dispatch. Personnel at Cabell Hospital in Huntington, W.Va., where she being treated, would not release her condition Thursday night.
Police originally said William Michael Layne shot his wife at Notre Dame Elementary, but Chief Charles Horner said it was unclear whether a gunshot fired in the school hit her.
Minutes before the teacher was stabbed, police say, her husband stabbed and wounded a different woman in an alley about five blocks from the school.
Horner said at a news conference he did not know whether that victim, Stephanie Loop, knew either of the Laynes. Loop, 22, was at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, where staff would not release information about her.
Christi Layne had filed for divorce Jan. 25.
"She was terrified something like this would happen," said Rebecca Bennett, Christi Layne's attorney.
The shooting happened around 9 a.m. at the Catholic school on Portsmouth's main road near the Kentucky border. Student Emmaly Baker said she hid in the classroom's coatroom when the gunman came in.
"We heard gunshots, and we heard her yelling. I was scared," she told WSAZ-TV. "The police officer came and got us and she was still laying there and she was hurt really bad."
The suspect fled, and for hours after the shooting, a SWAT team surrounded a house about two miles away. Neighbors saw officers shooting at the house at one point, and police said those shots were with low-caliber bullets used to disable a surveillance camera Layne had installed in his yard.
Neighbor Jack Freeland said police eventually broke through the door with a battering ram and sent in a robot.
Police had been involved in a domestic dispute between the Laynes about two weeks ago, Horner said, without elaborating.
The 56-year-old suspect, known as Mike, was a retired assistant director at the city's water distribution plant. He apparently shot himself in the head with a shotgun, Coroner Terry Johnson said. He was found in the garage behind his house, Horner said.
Freeland, 37, who often talked with the suspect, said that the couple had separated last summer and that Layne had been acting strangely for several months.
"At nighttime, he was out digging up his yard at 1, 2 in the morning," he said.
Parents, many with cell phones clutched to their ears, congregated across the street from the school and began leaving with their children around 10:30 a.m., said Kathy Hall, the office manager at the Cornerstone United Methodist Church, which also is across the street.
Police said they were reviewing surveillance video from the school to determine how Layne entered the building.
"The doors are locked. So people can't just walk into the school," said Larry Mullins, spokesman for the county's Emergency Management Agency.
The school and another Catholic school nearby were locked down after the stabbing, said Deacon Tom Berg, vice chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus. Classes were canceled for Friday, Berg said.
Thursday evening, an overflow crowd of more than 500 jammed St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Portsmouth for a prayer service. Many said they did not know the victims but came to show support for the families and students affected by the attacks.
Mike Sammons said he went to the church because his daughter had been Christi Layne's student.
"You think in a small town, a small Christian school, you send your children there to kind of protect them from things like this," Sammons said. "But you just never know when or where things are going to happen."
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 49 CommentsPosted by rudy654
You are SOOOO totally welcome, Jer-koff!
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/11856.php
It would appear that you are safer around citizens with guns that you are at your Dr. office or hospital. Should we consider a ban on hospitals & Doctors??
Yeah. I am answering your post. You posted that guns don''t kill people, people kill people. So, I am just agreeing. But if you can''t even remember what you posted, should you be allowed to have a gun? Well, yes actually, because according to happy guy, a knife can be worse.
OH you are so right bhappy! It just blows the snot right out of my analogy. So, to make you even more happy, why don''t we outlaw knives and bats, and make sure guns are available everywhere, because god knows that guns cannot equal the damage of knives and bats. Thank you for being so smart and pointing it out to me.
Posted by rudy654
Well Jer-koff, he downed TWO with a knife then offed himself with the gun. Guess that kinda blows the snot outta YOUR analogy, DON''T IT! So, the ONE who shall remain nameless LIED to us about gun owners using GUNS instead of knives, bats, or other weapons, huh, Jer-koff!
I did not post that?
Yeah, guns don''t kill people. They are just used by people to murder a bunch all at once. Of course, they are used by cowards. You know, the people who think they can stand off far away and shoot with impunity while everyone falls to the grown.
Well doofus, he used BOTH. Except, you can''t do a mass killing with a knife like you can with a gun. Too much work for cowards who love the ease of a gun.
Very unture my husband owns a gun has a permit also..and has taught me to use it. GUNS do not kill people...People kill people..regardless of what they use. Has nothing to with how question IS why?..you never here about what really gets this person to this point. It is every Americans right to own a gun period.
Posted by wp4088 at 07:23 PM : Feb 07, 2008
Well that would certainly explain why I have never had anything but the utmost respect and love for women and don''t have a violent "bone" in my body toward them.
;-)
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