W.Va. House honors teachers in school hostage situation

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia House of Delegates has honored two teachers who helped keep their students safe when a boy held a high school class hostage.

The House recognized Twila Smith and Jennifer Swift at the Capitol on Monday.

At Philip Barbour High School in August, a 14-year-old freshman took Smith's class hostage at gunpoint. Smith was teaching in the classroom. She tried to keep him and the other students calm during the incident.

Swift had come over from another classroom, saw what was going on and alerted school administrators.

At the school in small-town Philippi, police and the boy's pastor ultimately talked him into giving up without harming himself or others.