14 DAY TRIAL // When police were dispatched to the scene of a shooting at an elementary school in Georgia, they were aided by the negotiation skills of a brave school clerk.
As we told you previously, Antoinette Tuff convinced Michael Brandon Hill to surrender after opening fire at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur.
She recalled for ABC News how the 20-year-old man walked in the school and drew his AK-47 knock-off. He was preparing to put the clips in when she started talking to him.
He told her to call the news station as he would be killing police officers and opened up about feeling that he had no reason to live.
He then wanted to head out to an area with children, but Tuff talked him into surrendering. She started praying for him in front of him and he responded by saying that there was no hope for him.
She then told him about her own difficulties in life, like losing her husband of 33 years. Hill warmed up to her and told her that he was on medication.
"[I saw] a young man ready to kill anybody that he could and take any lives he wanted to," Tuff informed.
There is no information about the type of medication that he is on, but there is a chance that he suffers from mental issues.
Police are yet to pinpoint the cause of the shooting or the gunman's connection to the elementary school.
"Detectives continue to interview the suspect at police headquarters," they note in a statement.
A man with the same name as Hill was convicted of terroristic threats earlier this year and convicted.
He was sentenced to attend anger management therapy and given three years of probation.
Hill stands to be charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, terroristic threats and possession of a weapon, which is in breach of his probation.
