Walpole, N.H. reeling in wake of school shooting

Students and parents gathered at the elementary school in Walpole, N.H. today to seek counseling in the wake of a shooting incident on Friday.

A 14-year-old student at the school, which serves grades 5 through 8, shot himself in the cafeteria yesterday as his peers looked on. The student, who relatives and residents identified as Hunter Mack, remains hospitalized. His condition was reported as serious on Friday, but officials today declined to give an update.

“It certainly has been a tragedy for us,’’ said Fall Mountain Regional School District superintendent Debra Livingston. “We’re healing. We’re a very close-knit community, and we respect the people that have offered us their thoughts.’’

Livingston gave few details about the incident, but said the district had a plan to support students as they return to school Monday.

Teachers at Walpole Elementary School will meet before classes Monday with district counselors about how to best help students affected by the incident, Livingston said. When students arrive, they will immediately meet with their teacher and a counselor in their homerooms to discuss the shooting.

Livingston also said that individual and small group counseling will be available to students who needed it throughout the week. She would not say if the cafeteria, where the shooting took place, would be closed.

Peter Heed, the Cheshire County Attorney, said his office was overseeing an investigation into the shooting.

“We’re following up with students, staff, and parents who may have relevant information,’’ he said.

Heed said he could not discuss how Mack obtained the gun and that it was too early to speculate about whether charges could be filed in the case.

David Edkins, who moderates the district’s annual school meeting, said the family was well-known in Walpole, a town of 3,700 residents, where “everybody knows everybody.’’

“It’s absolutely tragic,’’ Edkins said. “They’re a longtime Walpole family, been there for several generations at least.’’

Edkins said Hunter was a “nice kid,’’ and that the family enjoyed hunting.

“The old-time New England families, they learn to hunt early,’’ Edkins said. He called the family “responsible hunters.’’

Charles Shaw, a longtime school official and the Mack family’s veterinarian, said the normally quiet town was reeling.

“There’s a lot of surprise and a lot of shock and a lot of sadness,’’ Shaw said. “It’s a very tragic thing. Fortunately, nobody else was hurt, and we have a very strong community.’’

Shaw said that the district would almost certainly review its policies in the wake of the shooting, but hoped any changes wouldn’t be too onerous on students.

“I see this as more of an individual act…. It’s no Columbine,’’ Shaw said, referencing the 1999 Colorado school shooting that ended in the deaths of 12 students and a teacher. “Here’s a child who had a self-inflicted wound, and it just so happened to be at the school.’’

“The question is, how’d the child get the gun; how’d the gun get in the school?’’

Shaw said he was concerned about the impact of the incident on young students in Walpole.

“Young people, this is not part of what is in their sphere of reality. Despite all information they get exposed to in life, it’s particularly shocking for them.’’