Teacher from Western WA killed in Iraq
Mar 1, 2012, 2:02 PM | Updated: 2:08 pm
A teacher from Western Washington has been shot and killed by an 18-year-old student at a school in Iraq.
The physical education teacher is identified as Jeremiah Small, 33, of Cosmopolis. His father confirmed his son’s death with a posting on Facebook. J. Dan Small wrote: “Our oldest, Jeremiah, was martyred in Kurdistan this a.m.”
Eyewitnesses described a chaotic scene in the classroom in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah. Authorities say the trouble started with an argument in the English speaking school during a sports lecture. Another student says the gunman shot Small and then shot himself. The teenager died at a hospital.
A police spokesman said it appeared to be a case of murder-suicide, adding the student apparently hid the gun in his clothes when he entered school.
The Nashville-based Servant Group International says Small was among nine American teachers at school run by Iraqi Kurds.
