boys -- dressed in camouflage and armed with rifles and pistols -- waited in bushes outside their school on Tuesday morning while a friend triggered a fire alarm. When teachers and pupils left the building, the boys opened fire. Apart from the five dead, nine girls and a second

teacher were wounded. President Bill Clinton expressed his grief at the carnage and pledged efforts to address the causes of such killing sprees, an all-too familiar part of U.S. life. Clinton told reporters accompanying him on his tour of Africa: "I do think in the weeks to come we have to analyse these incidents and see whether or not we can learn anything that can tell us what we can do to prevent further ones." Students said the boys were troublemakers and that one was angry because his girlfriend had broken up with him. "They did stay in trouble a lot," said 12-year-old Laura Birdsong. Another student, Michael Barnes, said one of the suspects had told him he wanted to kill. Town resident Nancy Echols, who has a child at the school, said Jonesboro was the kind of place to which people moved so their children could grow up in peace and safety. The killing appeared likely to fuel debate over the apparent ease with which minors can obtain firearms and over the amount of violence portrayed on television and in movies. Under Arkansas law, the two boys are considered juveniles. But District Attorney Brent Davis said he might seek to have them charged as adults, which would result in stiffer penalties.