Police- Dyersburg hostages wounded by gunman

and Bryce Chapman ~ Dyersburg State Gazette

DYERSBURG, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed Monday that bullets fired from the semiautomatic handgun of Harold Kilpatrick Jr., not weapons used by police, wounded three people during a hostage standoff at Dyersburg State Community College on Sept. 17.

"We are reporting that victims were shot by the gun used by Harold Kilpatrick," said John Mehr, special agent of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's western district.

The TBI released the results of a ballistics report in order to quell suspicions that tactical officers may have wounded one or more of the hostages during their assault on the classroom where Kilpatrick was holed up. Kilpatrick was killed in the exchange of gunfire.

John Johnson, son of Dyer County High football coach Harold Johnson, was shot twice: once in the leg and once in the abdomen. He was taken initially for emergency treatment to the Dyersburg Regional Medical Center and was then transferred to the Jackson Madison County Hospital. He has now been released.

The second student to receive serious wounds was Michelle Lemaster of Union City. She was shot twice in the chest. Lemaster was rushed by helicopter to the Med in Memphis and is still undergoing treatment. Mehr told reporters gathered at the Municipal Courtroom in the Dyersburg police building that both were "doing well" and were recovering from their injuries. He said a third student, whose name was not released, was apparently only grazed by a bullet or bullet fragment and was sent home the evening of the incident.

On Sept. 17, sometime between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m., Kilpatrick, a former Dyersburg High School graduate, walked into an upstairs classroom of the college's administration building brandishing a gun and a butcher's knife. He held fourteen people, including a teacher, hostage for over nine hours. He released four during the course of the standoff. A fifth student escaped in the last hour.

According to the police, Kilpatrick was suffering from schizophrenia. He was also accused of domestic assault in both Shelby and Obion counties.

Mehr said the weapon Kilpatrick used during the standoff was a .32-caliber semiautomatic. He said it held an eight-round clip and seven of the bullets were fired. Mehr confirmed that Kilpatrick's first shot was fired into the air above the heads of the hostages he was holding. That shot triggered the police assault on the room.

Mehr said the officers used weapons that fired nine millimeter, .40-caliber and 2.23 caliber rounds.

"Other laboratory tests are being conducted at this time and other witnesses have come forward," Mehr said. "There are questions that we still want answered."