Suspected gunman in custody at school

PINE PLAINS, N.Y., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A suspected gunman was in custody and no one was injured after a principal was held hostage Tuesday at a school in Pine Plains, N.Y., officials said.

The principal was held hostage for nearly two hours at Stissing Mountain High School, about 90 miles north of New York City.

The suspect was taken into custody after state police isolated him to one room of the school and negotiated with him, a spokesman for the sheriff's department told CNN.

Pine Plains Supervisor Gregg Pulver said he had been told the gunman was a parent of a child at the school, which was surrounded Tuesday by nearly 100 state, county and local police officers.

Parents waiting in a nearby lot applauded when they heard the situation had been resolve safely, said Nancy Kotzur, a Pine Plains resident who has two sons at the school.

"Now we're waiting for the children to be released," Kotzur said.

The gunman was at the school when it opened at 7:45 a.m., a time when as many as 500 children and 100 staff also were at the school, Pulver said. There was no immediate word on a motive for the hostage-taking.