DeKalb County, Ga., school chief says he'd like more campus officers

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - After a gunman entered an Atlanta-area school this week, the DeKalb County school chief says he'll consider hiring security officers to the system's 77 elementary campuses if it's financially possible.

Interim Superintendent Michael Thurmond said today that metal detectors definitely will be installed on campuses for the district's youngest students. DeKalb's high schools and middle schools already have armed officers and metal detectors, Thurmond said.

Police say a 20-year-old man with a history of mental illness entered Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy with an AK-47-style rifle. Authorities say Michael Hill exchanged fire with police before a school bookkeeper talked him into surrendering. No one was hurt.

Thurmond said the district is reviewing school safety policies that were revised most recently after a December 2012 school shooting in Connecticut left 20 children dead.

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