Father Goes On Rampage, Kills Seven At High Schools

A father opened fire at two high schools in the Yemeni capital on Sunday, killing seven people, including three children, and wounding others, security officials said.

The gunman, identified as Hassan Ali al-Baadani, waited outside the gates of Al-Tallai private high school, which his two daughters attend, said the officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

When the headmistress, Asma alNomaan, arrived, he fatally shot her in the head, witnesses said. He then killed a cafeteria employee who rushed to cover her body and wounded a bus driver who tried to block him from entering the school.

Once inside, he went from classroom to classroom, and shot dead three children and one teacher before walking 500 yards to the nearby Moussa bin Nussair High School to kill another teacher, Mohammed Ali al-Ouailfi.

The witnesses said al-Baadani seemed hysterical. They said he apparently was distraught at “indiscretions” by his teenage daughters, but they did not elaborate.

Yemeni security forces detained al-Baadani and surrounded the two schools, preventing journalists from entering.

Yemen is a conservative Arab Muslim country at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. Yemenis have a tradition of carrying rifles, machine guns and other weapons.