On May 20, 1999, a month after the
Columbine High School massacre, 15-year-old student Anthony "T.J." Solomon opened fire with a sawed-off
.22-caliber Browning BL-22
lever-action rifle on the Heritage campus, wounding six students. A 15-year-old girl was hospitalized in critical condition, and the other victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries. After emptying the 12 rounds that were inside the rifle, he ran outside, firing 3 times with his revolver as he did so. Outside, Solomon attempted suicide with a
.357 Magnum revolver but was talked into surrendering by two assistant principals. At the time of the shooting, the PBS series
Frontline was in Conyers filming a documentary about an STD outbreak that occurred among Conyers teenagers in 1996. Solomon initially faced up to 351 years of prison if convicted of
aggravated assault and other charges, but in 2000 he was found
guilty but mentally ill, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison and 65 years of
probation. A judge later reduced his sentence from 40 to 20 years. He was released to his mother's house on parole on July 26, 2016. ==Performing Arts==