Episode 117: The Stockton Springs Hostage Situation
On October 23rd, 2008, at roughly 10:50pm, a police officer in Searsport, Maine stopped a vehicle at a safety checkpoint, as it appeared the driver had not been wearing a seatbelt. When the officer approached the vehicle, the driver, 55-year-old Randall Hofland, brandished a gun and then immediately sped off. He made it several miles before abandoning his car in a field. While a two mile stretch of Route 1 was blocked off and searched, Randall Hofland had escaped successfully into the night. And thus began over a week long hunt for a man known locally to police, although he did not have a criminal record.
It wasn’t until the early morning of October 31st that Randall reappeared, looking disheveled, distraught, and dirty. He had made his way into the Stockton Springs Elementary School, a tiny K-5 school that housed only 85 students and 11 staff members at the time. Still wielding a gun, Randall was confronted by several brave staff members who were attempting to stop him before any irreversible damage was done.
Randall was able to push his way into a fifth-grade classroom and managed to lock the teacher out of the room. There were 11 students in the room, and after letting the two most upset students go, he remained in the room with the other 9 students for several minutes. Some of the children were extremely brave and did their best to calm Randall down, with one even offering him some of their lunch. Eventually after speaking to the police through the classroom door, Randall gave his gun to a brave fifth-grade boy and was promptly arrested.
Randall Hofland’s trial occurred in 2011, and like most guilty people, he represented himself, with the help of some lawyers. Several of the teachers testified against him, as well as the students who were directly taken as hostages under his disheveled gaze. In the end, Randall Hofland was sentenced to 35 years in prison where he remains to this day despite filing a handful of appeals.
Image Sources:
wgme.com - “WEAPONS IN SCHOOLS: Stockton Springs hostage situation, 9 years later”
sandiegouniontribune.com - “Gunman arrested after Maine students held hostage”