Riverside Teacher Kept Hostage Asks For Peace, Healing

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA -- A teacher who was kept hostage last week at Castle View Elementary School in Riverside released a statement Monday calling for peace and healing.

Linda Montgomery, 70, said she's "grateful for the love, support and care" she and and her family have received as the cope with the incident last Tuesday. Montgomery was taken hostage by Luvelle Kennon, a parent of one of her students.

Kennon took Montgomery hostage after striking a substitute teacher. The altercation prompted a seven-hour long standoff, which ended with deputies shooting and killing Kennon.

In a statement to KTLA, Montgomery said she feels compassion for Kennon's daughter and her family "during their healing process as they cope with this tragedy."

"As I move through my own healing process, I am experiencing a range of emotions – anger, however, has never been one of them," the statement read. "I pray that we all will find peace with what happened and heal individually, as a school and as a community."

Montgomery is a longtime teacher at Castle View.

Castle View students returned to their classes this week after officials canceled school last week following the incident.

The standoff, which prompted an evacuation, remains under investigation.

--Photo via Google Maps screenshot