Life
Antoinette Tuff – a hero that helped avert tragedy in standoff
Antoinette Tuff. PHOTO/Facebook
Antoinette Tuff, an Atlanta school clerk, talked an AK-47-wielding gunman, Michael Brandon Hill, out of a hostage situation.
Atlanta area police said that school bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff was heroic in how she responded after being taken hostage by Michael Brandon Hill. Hill went to the school armed with an AK 47-style rifle and nearly 500 rounds of ammunition, police said.
On a recording of a 911 call, Tuff can be heard relaying messages from Hill to DeKalb County emergency dispatchers before convincing him to surrender. She tells the dispatcher that Hill said he was not there to hurt the children but wanted to talk to an unarmed officer.
“He said, ‘Call the probation office in DeKalb County and let them know what’s going on,’” Tuff is heard telling the dispatcher. “He said he should have just went to the mental hospital instead of doing this, because he’s not on his medication.”
No one was injured, but police said the suspect shot into the floor and exchanged gunfire with officers who had surrounded Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur, a suburb east of Atlanta. The school has 870 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
Dramatic television footage showed lines of young students racing out of the building with police and teachers escorting them to safety. They sat outside in a field for a time until school buses came to take them to their parents at a nearby Wal-Mart.
The exchange between Tuff and the suspect was captured on a recording of a 911 call made by school officials to dispatchers.
Tuff begins by telling Hill of her own struggles, including raising a disabled child and losing her husband. The bookkeeper reassures him by saying he didn’t hurt anyone, hadn’t harmed her and could still surrender peacefully.
“We’re not gonna hate you, baby. It’s a good thing that you’re giving up,” Tuff says after having Hill put his weapons and ammunition on the counter. Tuff tells Hill she loves him and will pray for him.
Before he surrendered, Tuff took to the school’s public address system to say Hill was sorry for what he’d done and didn’t want to hurt anyone — although the lockdown remained in effect.
Hill is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, terrorist threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Police declined to discuss what he told them when questioned.
The DeKalb County Public Defender’s office said in a statement that it was representing Hill, calling him “a young man with a long history of mental health issues.”
“Mr. Hill is being represented by members of our Mental Health Division and he has decided to waive his first appearance today,” the statement said. “We are all very thankful that no one was hurt in this incident and that all of the children are safe.”
Law enforcement officers praised Tuff for helping to avert a potential tragedy.
“She was a real ally,” Alexander said. “She was a real hero in all of this. She just did a stellar job. She was cool, she was calm, very collected in all of this, maintained her wherewithal.”
Tuff told WSB-TV in Atlanta that she tried to keep Hill talking to prevent him from walking into the hallway or through the school building.
“He had a look on him that he was willing to kill — matter of fact he said it. He said that he didn’t have any reason to live and that he knew he was going to die today,” Tuff said.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
