Children taken hostage at gunpoint in Maine

BOSTON (Reuters) - A gunman took 11 children hostage at a school in Maine on Friday but was tackled by police after surrendering his gun to a child without firing a shot, local media reported.

WABI-TV said the children, all around 10 years old, were unharmed in the incident at the school in Stockton Springs, a coastal town of 1,617 people about 50 miles east of the state capital Augusta.

Randall Hofland, 55, who had been wanted by authorities who say he pointed a gun at a police officer on October 23, was taken into custody after holding the children hostage for about 20 minutes, the Bangor Daily News reported.

The hostage drama is the latest in string of security alerts involving guns at American schools since two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.

(Reporting by Jason Szep, editing by Philip Barbara)