Ga. (AP) -- The bell for the first class of the day was still 20 minutes away, leaving plenty of time for students at Heritage High School to mill about the common area next to the cafeteria. Some nibbled on cinnamon rolls and sipped juice or milk while others just conversed with friends. For seniors, it was a time to revel in their last full day of school before graduation. They were looking forward to getting their yearbooks signed and were braced for senior pranks. The previous day, jokesters let loose a large bag of crickets, and firecrackers had become almost an annual tradition. Then suddenly, the chatter and laughter was interrupted by a loud popping sound. A 15-year-old sophomore wielding a .22-caliber rifle was standing in front of the girls' bathroom in the common area firing at his schoolmates. He was identified by students as Thomas Solomon. ``I was sitting in the common area when I heard something that sounded like fireworks. I turned around and saw him and I just ran out of the school and across the street to my friend's house,'' said Brittanie Berry, 15. ``I saw everybody yelling and running.'' Nathaniel Deeter, 15, was a friend of the gunman. ``I yelled to him, `Hey, what're you doing?' But he just kept shooting. And then the kid next to me got shot in the foot. Then I started to run,'' Deeter said. Students took cover under benches and behind planters while others raced outside the one-story red brick building into the parking lot of the 1,300-student school. ``Everybody started throwing their book bags down and trying to get out, running as fast as they could,'' said Lee Merritt, 17. Teachers and administrators in other parts of the building ushered students into classrooms, telling them to lock the doors. At least one teacher took her students into a closet, where she recited Bible verses. ``They were screaming at us over the intercom to get to our homerooms as fast as we could,'' said Jessie McCumber, 15. After wounding six students, the gunman dropped the rifle and fled outdoors. He dropped to his knees, pulled out a .22-caliber revolver and stuck it in his mouth. But before he could shoot, assistant principal Cecil Brinkley talked him into dropping the weapon. The suspect broke down sobbing and was arrested. Inside, cafeteria worker Teresa Kumar was preparing lunch and had walked into the cooler to get fruits and vegetables. When she emerged, everybody was gone and there were plates of grits, biscuits, and bowls of cereal left sitting on the tables. In the common area, she saw a wounded girl lying on the floor bleeding and screaming. ``She was hollering she wanted her mother and she was hollering that she was shot,'' Ms. Kumar said. Later, small groups of students stood outside waiting for rides home and trading versions of how the event unfolded. ``It was just crazy and chaos,'' said Alaina Mitchell, 16, hugging her brother, who had come to school to pick her up. When the news first carried reports of the shooting, Janice Pugh waited at home for a while, hoping for a phone call from her only child, William. Finally she decided she couldn't wait any longer, so she went to Heritage. Her voice cracking and her eyes red, she kept one arm wrapped around William while her other hand gripped a balled-up tissue. ``Not knowing what exactly had happened, not knowing what I would find, I just prayed that he would be all right,'' she said. ``I'm just happy that he's OK and I pray for the others.'' -=-=- 