The gunman who took six girls hostage in a high school classroom in Bailey, Colorado, killing one of his captives and himself, began the takeover by ordering students to line up at the blackboard.

The high school in the tiny Colorado mountain town of Bailey was closed today.

A gunman took six girls hostage at the high school in the Colorado mountain town of Bailey, using them as human shields for hours before he shot and fatally wounded a girl and then killed himself as a SWAT team moved in, authorities said.