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Details emerge from hostage situation at Stockton Springs Elementary School


STOCKTON SPRINGS (Oct 31): After evading police for more than a week, Randall Hofland was arrested Friday morning, Oct. 31, after he allegedly held 11 children hostage at gunpoint in a classroom at Stockton Springs Elementary School.
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Hofland, 55, was reportedly tackled outside a fifth-grade classroom by a state trooper, who was one of the first police officers to arrive at the school.

Waldo County Jail
Randall Hofland after his arrest on Friday, Oct. 31. (Image courtesy of Waldo County Jail)

Maine State Police Lt. Gerard Madden said Hofland was armed with a loaded, semi-automatic handgun, but that there were no shots fired and that none of the children were physically injured. State officials in Augusta described the gun as a 10 millimeter-caliber Glock handgun.

The Waldo County Regional Communications Center received a call around 8:40 a.m. reporting a man was inside the Stockton Springs Elementary School with a gun, Madden said.

Public Safety Commissioner Anne Jordan, at a press conference held later Friday in Augusta, said the 911 call was made at 8:42 a.m. and that the first police officers arrived at 8:45 a.m.

As of late Friday morning, it remained unclear how Hofland was able to enter the school.

For the week that Hofland was being sought by police, SAD 56 was on heightened alert and had a plan for all exterior doors at the school to locked. Visitors were to only be allowed in by a secretary or other staff member. That plan was in place Friday morning at the Stockton school.

Hofland, though, went into a fifth-grade classroom where there were initially 11 students. Hofland released two of the students, Madden said, and the remaining nine students were in the room with him when the first police officers arrived.

Madden said the school has a lockdown plan that went into effect immediately. All students were locked in their respective classrooms and remained there until police officers arrived on scene.

Tina Shute
Police officers and other officials gather Friday morning at Stockton Springs Elementary School. (Photo by Tina Shute)

Once the officers secured the classroom where Hofland was stationed while the rest of the school was evacuated. The children were taken to Searsport Elementary School.

Hofland was reportedly saying a lot of things to the students, according to Madden, some of which related to his encounter with police a week earlier at a motor-vehicle checkpoint in Searsport. Madden said he did not know exactly what Hofland said to the students.

Detective Jason Andrews of the Maine State Police was one of the first officers on the scene, and Madden said Hofland let the remaining children go after Andrews began speaking with him. Andrews and the other officers were not in the classroom with Hofland; they were talking with him from outside the classroom.

Steve Fuller
Lt. Gerard Madden of the Maine State Police speaks with the media Friday, Oct. 31, outside Stockton Springs Elementary School. (Photo by Steve Fuller)

Madden said it was a credit to the officers involved that they were able to talk Hofland out of doing any harm to the students. Madden also gave credit to the school for having a lockdown plan in place and following it.

Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Steve McCausland said Hofland gave the gun to one of the children in the classroom before he was taken into custody.

Hofland was placed under arrest at 9:08 a.m., according to McCausland. Hofland was arrested on warrants from last week, when he allegedly pointed a handgun at a Searsport police officer at a safety checkpoint on Route 1. That alleged incident occurred late Thursday, Oct. 23, and Hofland's whereabouts had not been known since then.

Maine Department of Public Safety
Randall Hofland, seen here in his driver's license photo. (Image courtesy of Maine Department of Public Safety)

Hofland was taken to the Waldo County Jail following his arrest, and will face additional charges for the alleged incidents at the school. Madden said those charges will be determined after consultation with the District Attorney's office.

In addition to the Maine State Police, officers from the Waldo County Sheriff's, Stockton Springs Police and Searsport Police departments responded Friday morning, as did Lincolnville Police Chief Ron Young.

The Maine State Police Tactical Team was called, Madden said, but Hofland was in custody before it arrived. Madden said he did not know if Hofland had made any demands or had threatened to harm himself.

Madden also said he did not know whether Hofland had any ties to the school or the particular classroom into which he went.

Madden said the Stockton school was closed for the rest of the day. Interim SAD 56 Superintendent Ray Freve said a decision was made to send all other students home as well, with Searsport District Middle and High school students being dismissed first and then the other elementary schools (in Searsport and Frankfort) being dismissed second.

Although many Stockton Elementary students had been picked up by their parents in Searsport, those who hadn't were sent home on their regular bus with their regular bus drivers. "We wanted to make it as natural as possible," said Freve of the dismissal plans.

Freve said he met with some parents of Stockton students in Searsport. The district's crisis intervention team was activated as a result of the incident, Freve said, and the team was scheduled to meet Friday afternoon to plan a response.

Freve said the crisis intervention team will be available to meet with students, staff members and parents. Help has also been offered from other sources, including the Department of Education.

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron offered any assistance the district wants, which Freve said could include additional guidance counselors from other school districts and psychologists.

School officials will review their response to the situation, Freve said. Freve, who has worked in education for more than three decades, said he didn't recall having ever seen a situation like the one that unfolded Friday in Stockton Springs.

Hofland, of Searsport, was the subject of a weeklong manhunt after he reportedly pointed a gun at Searsport police officer Oct. 23, during a seat belt safety check.

Police had asked the public to remain vigilant while they continued to look for Hofland, who was described as 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing about 200 pounds.

SAD 56 schools were closed Friday, Oct. 24 while the search was under way. Searsport Police Chief Dick LaHaye said there were concerns about children waiting in their driveways for school buses during the manhunt.

Hofland has lived in the area for about seven years, according to LaHaye. An Internet search of Hofland's name turned up a number of postings on message boards, one of which was the Web site for the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester, N.H.

A story posted on the Union Leader's site June 16, 2008, told about a New Hampshire State Police "sobriety checkpoint." During a four-hour period, 187 drivers were stopped and six were arrested.

One person who posted comments on the story identified himself as "R. Hofland" from "Stockton, ME." His postings made clear his opposition to such stops.

"Only a fool would believe this pattern of 'stops' is not a violation of the intent of the 4th Amendment (and of the Bill of Rights in general), yet our Supreme Courts (NH and US for sure) have condoned these laws and their intrusions on our privacy and property," the poster, identified as "R. Hofland," wrote. "Those that tolerate it are doomed to a lifetime of such intrusions."

"R. Hofland" said he had been stopped at a similar checkpoint several years earlier while working in California. He said he had refused to produce his driver's license and registration when asked to do so. "R. Hofland" also said he was recording all of the conversations he had with police officers at that stop.

When another poster criticized "R. Hofland" for his statements, "R. Hofland" replied that such stops represent "an avalanche of seditious conspiracy by our government against the Rights of The People!"