Two Teens Hurt After Botched Murder/Suicide

"COOPERSTOWN, NY ― A white schoolboy with a rifle chased a black classmate into a police station near the National Baseball Hall of Fame and shot him, then himself, as the lone officer on duty closed in, authorities said.

"The shooter, 16, was hospitalized with a serious wound after shooting himself in the chin, police said Saturday. The other boy, also 16, was hit in the arm. He was treated at a hospital and released.

"The shooting happened Friday afternoon at the small headquarters of the Cooperstown Police Department, across the street from the baseball museum.

"It began when the white teen stepped out of a car with a .22-caliber rifle and began chasing three youths who had been walking through a park near the Hall of Fame Library, village police Chief Diana Nicols said.

"Authorities are investigating whether the shooter was motivated by racial hatred, she said.

"The black teen ran into the lobby the station shares with other municipal offices and took cover behind a partition. The shooter spotted him and fired two bullets, Nicols said.

"One bullet passed through a wall and came within inches of the startled duty officer, James Cox, who leaped to his feet.

"The white teen then shot himself as Cox approached him with his gun drawn and ordered him to drop his rifle, said Nicols, who credited the officer's bravery, and some luck, for halting the attack.

"`If he had been out on patrol, this might have ended very differently,` she said."

From WJZ.com...