
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 2, 1990                   TAG: 9005020138
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SHERIDAN, ARK.                                LENGTH: Medium

3RD ARK. STUDENT KILLS SELF IN WEEK

A Sheridan High School student died of an apparent self-inflicted wound Tuesday, a day after two of his classmates apparently took their lives, police said.

Lt. Lenard Lewis said a student killed himself at his home in East End, a Saline County community eight miles south of Little Rock. The body of the 17-year-old sophomore was found by his father, who called police at 2:28 p.m., Lewis said.

Meanwhile, professional counselors joined school officials at Sheridan High School talking with students affected by the deaths of their two schoolmates.

The two students were Thomas Smith, 17, who shot himself in a history class Monday after professing his love for a girl, and Thomas M. Chidester, 19, who died of a single shot in the head with a .45-caliber weapon late Monday.

Steve Brown, assistant school superintendent, said the victims had been friends.

Tuesday's death, if officially ruled a suicide, would be the fourth suicide by high school students in the community of about 3,000, about 25 miles south of Little Rock. Sheriff Cary Clark said a 17-year-old killed himself about a month ago. Three other suicides have been committed in the county in the last six weeks, Clark said.

Sheridan Police Chief David Hooks said Smith was pronounced dead about four hours after the 1 p.m. shooting.

"[Smith] walked to the front of the class and told a girl, `I love you,' " Hooks said. "He pulled out a small-caliber revolver that was in his pants under his shirt and shot one time."

The bullet struck him in the forehead.

He was pronounced dead at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock.

Chidester lived with his grandmother, Annie Mae Funderburg. She told Clark that when she went to bed about 9 p.m., her grandson was watching television.

Clark said the woman told him that she awoke early in the morning and noticed the house lights were still on. She said she got up and found Chidester sprawled across his bed at an odd angle. She said she tried to wake him and noticed blood around his head.

Clark said Grant County Coroner Mike Angelo determined that the death happened between 10 and 11 p.m. Monday.

by CNB