U.S. high school student charged with murdering math teacher

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U.S. high school student charged with murdering math teacher

(Xinhua) 08:20, October 24, 2013

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 -- A 14-year-old high school student was charged Wednesday with murdering a female math teacher in the Danvers High School in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, local media reported.

The student, identified as Philip Chism, was arraigned in a court for suspected killing of Colleen Ritzer, 24, a popular math teacher at the school. Chism was ordered held without bail, the reports said.

Police discovered blood in a bathroom on the second floor of the school before recovering Ritzer's body in the woods behind the school. She was reported missing late Tuesday after she failed to return home after school and did not return phone calls.

Chism, who just moved from Tennessee before this school year, is a soccer player at the school. He was arrested by the police who recovered evidence at several scenes and the video surveillance. It remained unknown how and why he killed the teacher.

This was the second murder case involving teen students in U.S. schools this week. On Monday, a 12-year-old student fatally shot a male math teacher at the Sparks Middle School in Reno, Nevada.

Michael Landsberry, 45, was killed as he confronted the gunman to allow other students to flee. The shooter later committed suicide by turning the handgun on himself after killing Landsberry and wounding two other students.

The motive of the shooting remained unknown as investigation was under way.

（Editor：LiangJun、Yao Chun）